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 Indonesia and from Hong Kong.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Human League show in Sheffield.
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 1966 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Paris and New York.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manila 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 1975 at the first Ubu practice in a loft in Cleveland.
I was working on the arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Grey Daturas to the grime kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Bobbi Humphrey. All the underground hits.
All Nico tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every UT 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Cabaret Voltaire record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Groovy Waters,
Warren Ellis,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Black Pus,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Byron Stingily,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Magma,
Kevin Saunderson,
Crime,
The Shadows of Knight,
The Names,
Underground Resistance,
Main Source,
Charles Mingus,
John Foxx,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Minny Pops,
Fad Gadget,
The Dead C,
Duran Duran,
Connie Case,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Niagra,
Jacques Brel,
Tom Boy,
Boredoms,
JFA,
Laurel Aitken,
The Busters,
Scion,
Gang of Four,
Oblivians,
Fat Boys,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Lalo Schifrin,
Jeff Lynne,
The Offenders,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Wolf Eyes,
Index,
Faust,
Bluetip,
Barbara Tucker,
Glenn Branca,
Flipper,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Sam Rivers,
Pylon,
Yaz,
Lower 48,
The Doors,
Hashim,
Josef K,
Bobbi Humphrey,
The Real Kids,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Adolescents,
Masters at Work,
The Trojans,
Gastr Del Sol,
E-Dancer, E-Dancer, E-Dancer, E-Dancer.
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.