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 Argentina and from Spokane.
But I was there.
I was there in 1967.
I was there at the first Rodriguez show in Detroit.
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 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Delhi and Taipei.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Tokyo 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 1983 at the first Art of Noise practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the spring reverb sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Ossler to the techno 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 CMW. All the underground hits.
All The Last Poets tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Piero Umiliani 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 '70s.
I hear you're buying a 808 and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
In Retrospect,
Wasted Youth,
Public Image Ltd.,
Anakelly,
Fugazi,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Pagans,
Gang Green,
Sexual Harrassment,
Audionom,
Bad Manners,
Patti Smith,
Heaven 17,
Gichy Dan,
Ossler,
LL Cool J,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Mandrill,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Agitation Free,
Pulsallama,
B.T. Express,
Cameo,
Echospace,
Ultravox,
D'Angelo,
the Slits,
The Real Kids,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Boredoms,
Electric Prunes,
The Leaves,
The Fugs,
Television,
T. Rex,
Marshall Jefferson,
Hasil Adkins,
Robert Hood,
The Last Poets,
Scion,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Unrelated Segments,
The Happenings,
Fela Kuti,
The Slits,
Dead Boys,
Isaac Hayes,
Tears for Fears,
Oblivians,
Curtis Mayfield,
L. Decosne,
James Chance & The Contortions,
New Order,
The Doobie Brothers,
Scan 7,
Scott Walker,
Quadrant,
Gerry Rafferty,
Joe Smooth,
James White and The Blacks,
Camouflage,
Yazoo,
Tommy Roe, Tommy Roe, Tommy Roe, Tommy Roe.
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.