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 Nepal and from Lagos.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Soft Boys show in Cambridge.
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 1962 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Halifax and Johannesburg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Cairo 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 Throbbing Gristle practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the oboe 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 Harpers Bizarre to the grunge 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 Black Flag. All the underground hits.
All Bang on a Can All-Stars tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Theoretical Girls record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Traffic Nightmare record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Accadde A,
Livin' Joy,
Glenn Branca,
Negative Approach,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Drive Like Jehu,
Outsiders,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Crime,
Skriet,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Lucky Dragons,
Electric Prunes,
Talk Talk,
MDC,
Index,
The Last Poets,
Public Enemy,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Blancmange,
Barclay James Harvest,
Scientists,
Gang Gang Dance,
Dennis Brown,
Delon & Dalcan,
Stetsasonic,
The Selecter,
Mo-Dettes,
Ronnie Foster,
Slick Rick,
Surgeon,
Ash Ra Tempel,
The Music Machine,
The Moleskins,
Blossom Toes,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Harry Pussy,
Radiopuhelimet,
Donald Byrd,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Yaz,
the Slits,
Cecil Taylor,
Section 25,
cv313,
Robert Hood,
Skarface,
Technova,
The Velvet Underground,
A Certain Ratio,
The Index,
Flamin' Groovies,
Moebius,
Barbara Tucker,
Rhythm & Sound,
Second Layer,
Silicon Teens,
Kayak,
Camouflage,
Drexciya,
Ultravox,
John Holt,
Mantronix, Mantronix, Mantronix, Mantronix.
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.