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 Belarus and from Tehran.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Human League show in Sheffield.
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 1968 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Johannesburg and Sao Paulo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Stockholm 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 1965 at the first Beefheart practice in a loft in Lancaster.
I was working on the clarinet 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 Saccharine Trust to the electroclash 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 Sonic Youth. All the underground hits.
All Hasil Adkins tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a John Foxx record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Lightning Bolt,
Minnie Riperton,
Qualms,
Carl Craig,
The Mummies,
Connie Case,
Adolescents,
Tropical Tobacco,
Brass Construction,
Niagra,
Soul II Soul,
Isaac Hayes,
Swans,
Simply Red,
Ultra Naté,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
The Stooges,
Ituana,
The Misunderstood,
The Victims,
Laurel Aitken,
The Saints,
Idris Muhammad,
Sun City Girls,
Saccharine Trust,
Anthony Braxton,
Scrapy,
Hoover,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Johnny Osbourne,
Steve Hackett,
Nick Fraelich,
Roxy Music,
The Kinks,
Darondo,
Josef K,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
June Days,
DNA,
B.T. Express,
Frankie Knuckles,
Eve St. Jones,
Michelle Simonal,
Q65,
Arcadia,
Todd Rundgren,
Tubeway Army,
Tim Buckley,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
ABBA,
The Monks,
Slick Rick,
Fear,
Freddie Wadling,
Rakim,
The Gun Club,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Joe Finger,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Angry Samoans, Angry Samoans, Angry Samoans, Angry Samoans.
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.