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 St Kitts & Nevis and from Johannesburg.
But I was there.
I was there in 1968.
I was there at the first Bowie show in Bromley.
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 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Delhi and Winnipeg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lyon 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 1983 at the first Lewis practice in a loft in Vancouver.
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 Flash Fearless to the funk kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Harry Pussy. All the underground hits.
All Tropical Tobacco tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Richard Hell and the Voidoids record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a rhodes and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Harpers Bizarre record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Gerry Rafferty,
Ultra Naté,
Yusef Lateef,
The Slackers,
Gil Scott Heron,
Michelle Simonal,
Fatback Band,
Laurel Aitken,
Radio Birdman,
Jerry's Kids,
Franke,
The Residents,
T. Rex,
Dorothy Ashby,
Minnie Riperton,
Terrestrial Tones,
the Bar-Kays,
The Raincoats,
Gang Green,
the Slits,
X-101,
Intrusion,
Easy Going,
Pylon,
Main Source,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Reagan Youth,
Deadbeat,
The Shadows of Knight,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
David McCallum,
Max Romeo,
The Evens,
AZ,
These Immortal Souls,
Niagra,
The Busters,
Quando Quango,
Audionom,
The Pop Group,
Nils Olav,
Stereo Dub,
Ice-T,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Mark Hollis,
Stiv Bators,
Vainqueur,
Soft Cell,
Matthew Bourne,
Rosa Yemen,
Fluxion,
Siglo XX,
Bluetip,
The Misunderstood,
Hashim,
Jandek,
Altered Images,
The Dirtbombs,
Tommy Roe, Tommy Roe, Tommy Roe, Tommy Roe.
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.