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 Marshall Islands and from Madrid.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Josef K show in Edinburgh.
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 1965 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Philadelphia and Johannesburg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Tehran 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 1973 at the first Television practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Aural Exciters to the electroclash 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 Gian Franco Pienzio. All the underground hits.
All Half Japanese tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Suburban Knight record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Urselle record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Icehouse,
Neu!,
Smog,
Toni Rubio,
Graham Central Station,
Rosa Yemen,
DJ Style,
Second Layer,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Inner City,
Circle Jerks,
The Leaves,
The Modern Lovers,
Television Personalities,
Colin Newman,
Lou Reed,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Silicon Teens,
The Gories,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Black Moon,
Byron Stingily,
Moebius,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
K-Klass,
The Birthday Party,
Eric Copeland,
Throbbing Gristle,
The Wake,
Tom Boy,
Sandy B,
the Human League,
Wally Richardson,
Eve St. Jones,
The Mojo Men,
Gang Gang Dance,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
The Barracudas,
10cc,
Das Ding,
Radio Birdman,
Al Stewart,
A Certain Ratio,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Livin' Joy,
Jandek,
MDC,
Eli Mardock,
The Move,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Sarah Menescal,
Prince Buster,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
CMW,
The Detroit Cobras,
Peter & Gordon,
Essential Logic,
Intrusion,
H. Thieme,
Black Bananas,
Harmonia,
the Slits, the Slits, the Slits, the Slits.
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.