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 Trinidad & Tobago and from Edmonton.
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 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manila and Salvador.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Calgary 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 1977 at the first Mistral practice in a loft in Amsterdam.
I was working on the arpeggiator 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 Siglo XX to the dance kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Bang on a Can All-Stars. All the underground hits.
All Bad Manners tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Scientists record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge 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 spring reverb and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Kenny Larkin record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Toni Rubio,
Kayak,
Lebanon Hanover,
Soft Cell,
The Mojo Men,
Camberwell Now,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Camouflage,
Grauzone,
Bang On A Can,
the Fania All-Stars,
Scan 7,
David Axelrod,
Flash Fearless,
Shoche,
Banda Bassotti,
Davy DMX,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Ornette Coleman,
Nation of Ulysses,
X-Ray Spex,
The Slits,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Yellowson,
The United States of America,
The Misunderstood,
F. McDonald,
Panda Bear,
Curtis Mayfield,
Con Funk Shun,
Half Japanese,
Leonard Cohen,
Dave Gahan,
Trumans Water,
Depeche Mode,
Soul Sonic Force,
Echospace,
Siglo XX,
MC5,
Sparks,
Alice Coltrane,
Sun City Girls,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Carl Craig,
Nick Fraelich,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Scientists,
Brick,
Kerrie Biddell,
The Birthday Party,
Ralphi Rosario,
Guru Guru,
Byron Stingily,
The Star Department,
Gastr Del Sol,
Radiohead,
The Blackbyrds,
Moby Grape,
The Sound, The Sound, The Sound, The Sound.
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.