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 Netherlands and from Beijing.
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 1965 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mumbai and Taipei.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Johannesburg 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 1971 at the first Big Star practice in a loft in Memphis.
I was working on the oboe 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 The Index to the rock 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 Barry Ungar. All the underground hits.
All Gregory Isaacs tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Manfred Mann's Earth Band 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 sitar and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Associates record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Charles Mingus,
Liliput,
Sight & Sound,
Barclay James Harvest,
Soul II Soul,
Pantaleimon,
The Moody Blues,
Outsiders,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Popol Vuh,
The Moleskins,
Kool Moe Dee,
The Slits,
Oneida,
Crooked Eye,
Black Moon,
Bill Near,
Q and Not U,
Tommy Roe,
Pussy Galore,
Quantec,
Loose Ends,
Gang Starr,
Public Enemy,
The Beau Brummels,
The Dave Clark Five,
Faust,
Zapp,
Public Image Ltd.,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Soft Cell,
Livin' Joy,
Isaac Hayes,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Hoover,
Minny Pops,
Joe Smooth,
Lucky Dragons,
Schoolly D,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
The Pretty Things,
the Swans,
June Days,
Kerrie Biddell,
Inner City,
Fat Boys,
Stetsasonic,
Babytalk,
the Sonics,
Pole,
B.T. Express,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Intrusion,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Ituana,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Sister Nancy,
Soulsonic Force,
Tres Demented,
Niagra, Niagra, Niagra, Niagra.
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.