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 Belize and from Johannesburg.
But I was there.
I was there in 1983.
I was there at the first Lewis show in Vancouver.
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 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Houston and Beijing.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Madrid 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 mellotron 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 The Birthday Party to the funk kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Severed Heads. All the underground hits.
All Country Joe & The Fish tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Ultravox record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Rotary Connection record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Magazine,
The Martian,
Ituana,
The New Christs,
Minutemen,
Soul Sonic Force,
Yellowson,
Ronan,
Idris Muhammad,
Wolf Eyes,
The Divine Comedy,
The Skatalites,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Dead Boys,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
the Soft Cell,
L. Decosne,
Niagra,
Bad Manners,
Sound Behaviour,
Cymande,
Symarip,
Joey Negro,
the Swans,
Sarah Menescal,
Bizarre Inc.,
The Moleskins,
The Blackbyrds,
Aural Exciters,
The Cramps,
Bobby Byrd,
The Golliwogs,
cv313,
The Fall,
Godley & Creme,
the Human League,
Thee Headcoats,
Terry Callier,
Archie Shepp,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Jerry's Kids,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Flamin' Groovies,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Depeche Mode,
Reuben Wilson,
the Normal,
The Seeds,
Little Man,
the Fania All-Stars,
Radiohead,
Scion,
Traffic Nightmare,
Barbara Tucker,
Cybotron,
The Doobie Brothers,
Althea and Donna,
Jacob Miller,
Lee Hazlewood, Lee Hazlewood, Lee Hazlewood, Lee Hazlewood.
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.