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 Slovenia and from Delhi.
But I was there.
I was there in 1975.
I was there at the first Ubu show in Cleveland.
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 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Portland and Stockholm.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Delhi 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 harpsichord 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 Joey Negro to the disco kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Prince Buster. All the underground hits.
All The Cure tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Lightning Bolt 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a linndrum and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Bang on a Can All-Stars record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The United States of America,
Reagan Youth,
Crooked Eye,
Lucky Dragons,
Ken Boothe,
The Associates,
Marmalade,
Junior Murvin,
Von Mondo,
Loose Ends,
Essential Logic,
Todd Rundgren,
Kurtis Blow,
Television Personalities,
Newcleus,
Steve Hackett,
Erasure,
Smog,
Nils Olav,
Underground Resistance,
Japan,
Max Romeo,
Alton Ellis,
X-102,
Vainqueur,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Jimmy McGriff,
Babytalk,
Guru Guru,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Rufus Thomas,
Ronan,
The Standells,
John Lydon,
Josef K,
Hot Snakes,
Ash Ra Tempel,
The Martian,
Cameo,
Popol Vuh,
Ultimate Spinach,
Crispy Ambulance,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
Dennis Brown,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Avey Tare,
Severed Heads,
Ultra Naté,
Mo-Dettes,
Brass Construction,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Duran Duran,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
The Buckinghams,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Sun City Girls,
The Smoke,
R.M.O.,
The Raincoats,
Barclay James Harvest,
Oneida,
Q and Not U, Q and Not U, Q and Not U, Q and Not U.
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.