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 Mauritania and from Lagos.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Feelies show in Haledon.
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 Bologna and Glasgow.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Delhi 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 harpsichord sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 MC5 to the jazz 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 Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog. All the underground hits.
All Graham Central Station tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Angels of Light & Akron/Family record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Warren Ellis 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?
Tubeway Army,
The Fugs,
The New Christs,
The Sound,
Lebanon Hanover,
China Crisis,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Erykah Badu,
Con Funk Shun,
Brass Construction,
The Residents,
The Black Dice,
The Saints,
Bronski Beat,
Deakin,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Outsiders,
Ken Boothe,
Roy Ayers,
Patti Smith,
Ice-T,
Aloha Tigers,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Kenny Larkin,
Marcia Griffiths,
Cecil Taylor,
The Count Five,
Dave Gahan,
Black Bananas,
The Vogues,
Amazonics,
Pharoah Sanders,
Ralphi Rosario,
Barbara Tucker,
Delon & Dalcan,
Suburban Knight,
Davy DMX,
Dawn Penn,
The Raincoats,
Thompson Twins,
Deadbeat,
Todd Terry,
Cal Tjader,
The United States of America,
Brick,
Depeche Mode,
Scan 7,
Guru Guru,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Electric Prunes,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Dead Boys,
U.S. Maple,
UT,
Letta Mbulu,
Oneida,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
The Alarm Clocks,
Panda Bear,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Grandmaster Flash,
Susan Cadogan,
The Selecter, The Selecter, The Selecter, The Selecter.
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.