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 Papua New Guinea and from Glasgow.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Second Layer show in South London.
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 1963 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Seoul and Bologna.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Taipei 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 Tom Verlaine 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 Minutemen to the techno kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Sun City Girls. All the underground hits.
All Dead Boys tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Yusef Lateef record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a 808 and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Albert Ayler record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Bluetip,
Groovy Waters,
The Saints,
Donny Hathaway,
Depeche Mode,
DNA,
The Doobie Brothers,
The Count Five,
Wire,
the Fania All-Stars,
The Litter,
The Electric Prunes,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Brand Nubian,
Black Bananas,
Chrome,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Subhumans,
Circle Jerks,
Organ,
The Index,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Camouflage,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
LL Cool J,
Lindisfarne,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Sandy B,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
KRS-One,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Morten Harket,
Jacques Brel,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
The Monks,
The Angels of Light,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Kerri Chandler,
Vladislav Delay,
The Fuzztones,
Robert Görl,
John Cale,
Agent Orange,
New Age Steppers,
Babytalk,
The Alarm Clocks,
X-Ray Spex,
Eyeless In Gaza,
The Invisible,
Stereo Dub,
The Fire Engines,
Yellowson,
Gabor Szabo,
the Soft Cell,
the Sonics,
Warren Ellis,
The Trojans,
The Slackers,
Sam Rivers,
OOIOO,
Johnny Clarke,
Youth Brigade, Youth Brigade, Youth Brigade, Youth Brigade.
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.