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 Poland and from Jakarta.
But I was there.
I was there in 1975.
I was there at the first Throbbing Gristle show in London.
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 1961 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Seoul and Mexico City.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 Second Layer practice in a loft in South London.
I was working on the 808 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 Selector Dub Narcotic to the grime kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Brand Nubian. All the underground hits.
All Barrington Levy tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Sonic Youth,
Black Flag,
Glenn Branca,
Scan 7,
L. Decosne,
Derrick May,
John Lydon,
Anthony Braxton,
E-Dancer,
Patti Smith,
Surgeon,
Gil Scott Heron,
The Blues Magoos,
ABC,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
The Leaves,
Crash Course in Science,
Brick,
Talk Talk,
Outsiders,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
PIL,
The Sound,
Sugar Minott,
The Durutti Column,
The Human League,
The Slits,
Erasure,
Brand Nubian,
The Flesh Eaters,
Aloha Tigers,
Hot Snakes,
The Modern Lovers,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Jandek,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
David McCallum,
Accadde A,
Oneida,
Piero Umiliani,
Fat Boys,
Darondo,
Anakelly,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Faust,
Bobby Womack,
Slave,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Robert Hood,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Main Source,
Dorothy Ashby,
The Birthday Party,
Mr. Review,
The Fall,
Liliput,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Subhumans,
Harpers Bizarre,
The Real Kids,
Avey Tare, Avey Tare, Avey Tare, Avey Tare.
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.