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 Bhutan and from Bologna.
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 1967 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Halifax and Cairo.
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 1977 at the first Mistral practice in a loft in Amsterdam.
I was working on the oboe sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Scrapy to the grunge kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Radiohead. All the underground hits.
All The Walker Brothers tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Technova record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash 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 linndrum and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Lightning Bolt record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Tropical Tobacco,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Circle Jerks,
Moebius,
Negative Approach,
Bush Tetras,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
The Blues Magoos,
Godley & Creme,
The Star Department,
Prince Buster,
The Smiths,
Flipper,
Ituana,
Public Enemy,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Bill Near,
Urselle,
Mary Jane Girls,
Chrome,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Tears for Fears,
Unrelated Segments,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Sexual Harrassment,
ABBA,
Boredoms,
Bluetip,
The Smoke,
KRS-One,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Agent Orange,
Terrestrial Tones,
Colin Newman,
Laurel Aitken,
Kayak,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Kurtis Blow,
The Martian,
K-Klass,
Ultra Naté,
La Düsseldorf,
Piero Umiliani,
Crooked Eye,
The Fugs,
The J.B.'s,
Shuggie Otis,
Byron Stingily,
Jawbox,
the Human League,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Dead Boys,
Second Layer,
The Pop Group,
Aaron Thompson,
The Dirtbombs,
Judy Mowatt,
Danielle Patucci,
Jandek,
Reuben Wilson,
Arcadia,
Simply Red,
PIL,
Scratch Acid, Scratch Acid, Scratch Acid, Scratch Acid.
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.