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 Norway and from Cairo.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Mistral show in Amsterdam.
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 1969 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bremen and Milan.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Portland 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 Second Layer practice in a loft in South London.
I was working on the clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 James Chance & The Contortions to the disco kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 The Jesus and Mary Chain. All the underground hits.
All Dawn Penn tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Selecter record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Television Personalities record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Scott Walker,
Andrew Hill,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Camouflage,
Tim Buckley,
Barry Ungar,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Essential Logic,
Television Personalities,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Ronnie Foster,
David McCallum,
Duran Duran,
Tomorrow,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Trumans Water,
The Selecter,
Sexual Harrassment,
Public Enemy,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
Joensuu 1685,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Monks,
Bush Tetras,
A Certain Ratio,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Dual Sessions,
Nas,
The Gories,
Second Layer,
Arcadia,
The Velvet Underground,
MC5,
The Count Five,
June of 44,
Eve St. Jones,
Adolescents,
Blossom Toes,
Prince Buster,
Matthew Bourne,
Ultra Naté,
Kaleidoscope,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Desert Stars,
Royal Trux,
The Five Americans,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Josef K,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
R.M.O.,
the Normal,
Rapeman,
The Durutti Column,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Wolf Eyes,
Black Bananas,
Procol Harum,
Bang On A Can,
Grey Daturas,
The Litter,
Laurel Aitken,
Albert Ayler,
The Toasters,
Nick Fraelich, Nick Fraelich, Nick Fraelich, Nick Fraelich.
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.