Infinitely Losing My Edge
Yeah, I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge.
The kids are coming up from behind.
I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge to the kids from Suriname and from Paris.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Big Star show in Memphis.
I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge to the kids whose footsteps I hear when they get on the decks.
I'm losing my edge to the internet seekers who can tell me every member of every good group from 1964 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mumbai and Spokane.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Beijing kids in little jackets and borrowed nostalgia for the unremembered nineties.
I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge.
I can hear the footsteps every night on the decks.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979 at the first Josef K practice in a loft in Edinburgh.
I was working on the marimba sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart started up his first band.
I told him, "Don't do it that way. You'll never make a dime."
I was there.
I was the first guy playing Second Layer to the disco kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
Everybody thought I was crazy.
We all know.
I was there.
I was there.
I've never been wrong.
But I'm losing my edge to better-looking people with better ideas and more talent.
And they're actually really, really nice.
I'm losing my edge.
I heard you have a compilation of every good song ever done by anybody.
Every great song by Manfred Mann's Earth Band. All the underground hits.
All Theoretical Girls tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Electric Prunes record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a China Crisis record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Dave Gahan,
Fear,
Television,
Q65,
Lalo Schifrin,
Fluxion,
Glenn Branca,
Hashim,
the Sonics,
Bronski Beat,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
The Smoke,
New York Dolls,
The Cramps,
Radiohead,
The Fire Engines,
Yazoo,
The Techniques,
Henry Cow,
Suburban Knight,
Carl Craig,
Crispy Ambulance,
Quando Quango,
Ultimate Spinach,
The United States of America,
DJ Style,
Sister Nancy,
The Cure,
Franke,
Michelle Simonal,
PIL,
Glambeats Corp.,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
The Monochrome Set,
Prince Buster,
Organ,
Ultravox,
Quadrant,
Black Pus,
The Gap Band,
Neu!,
Lightning Bolt,
The Selecter,
Nils Olav,
The Music Machine,
Arab on Radar,
Smog,
Magazine,
The Pop Group,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Porter Ricks,
Masters at Work,
Harpers Bizarre,
Peter and Kerry,
John Coltrane,
Jeru the Damaja,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Quantec,
Gang Starr, Gang Starr, Gang Starr, Gang Starr.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.