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 Ghana and from Winnipeg.
But I was there.
I was there in 1968.
I was there at the first Can show in Cologne.
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 Shanghai and Lagos.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Houston 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 1967 at the first Rodriguez practice in a loft in Detroit.
I was working on the theremin 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 Swans to the crunk kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Nation of Ulysses. All the underground hits.
All Con Funk Shun tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Ituana record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a snare and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Lou Reed record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Danielle Patucci,
Judy Mowatt,
Youth Brigade,
This Heat,
Agitation Free,
Tres Demented,
Graham Central Station,
Lindisfarne,
Josef K,
The Remains,
OOIOO,
Metal Thangz,
Andrew Hill,
Howard Jones,
Lyres,
Kaleidoscope,
Ronnie Foster,
Goldenarms,
The Selecter,
Inner City,
Swell Maps,
Ultravox,
Gregory Isaacs,
Young Marble Giants,
Heaven 17,
Zero Boys,
Gang Starr,
Oblivians,
The Fuzztones,
The Seeds,
James White and The Blacks,
Jerry's Kids,
Scan 7,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Camouflage,
Deadbeat,
Public Enemy,
Barry Ungar,
Lalann,
Throbbing Gristle,
Tomorrow,
Depeche Mode,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
The Victims,
Kayak,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
The Happenings,
Boredoms,
Jacques Brel,
Unrelated Segments,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Trumans Water,
The Fall,
Terrestrial Tones,
Archie Shepp,
Connie Case,
Rites of Spring,
Lungfish,
PIL,
Alton Ellis,
Skaos, Skaos, Skaos, Skaos.
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.