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 Romania and from Hong Kong.
But I was there.
I was there in 1970.
I was there at the first Onyeabor show in Enugu.
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 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Salvador and Seoul.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Portland 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 1971 at the first Neu! practice in a loft in Düsseldorf.
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 Dawn Penn to the punk 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 Royal Trux. All the underground hits.
All T. Rex tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Jawbox record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Harmonia record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Peter & Gordon,
A Certain Ratio,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Danielle Patucci,
Nation of Ulysses,
the Human League,
Echospace,
Mary Jane Girls,
Jimmy McGriff,
EPMD,
Pet Shop Boys,
Ralphi Rosario,
Shoche,
Mars,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Quadrant,
Jacob Miller,
Joe Smooth,
Pharoah Sanders,
The Skatalites,
Nas,
Joyce Sims,
Toni Rubio,
Mission of Burma,
Monks,
The Names,
Marine Girls,
Swans,
Qualms,
Radiohead,
Kayak,
Aloha Tigers,
Sparks,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Barclay James Harvest,
Pantaleimon,
Little Man,
Masters at Work,
The Flesh Eaters,
Fear,
Dave Gahan,
The Detroit Cobras,
Eli Mardock,
Fatback Band,
The Doors,
Silicon Teens,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
The Busters,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
cv313,
Subhumans,
Tropical Tobacco,
The Gun Club,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Rotary Connection,
Severed Heads,
Joy Division,
Whodini,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Erasure,
Agent Orange,
The Alarm Clocks,
Chris Corsano,
Buzzcocks, Buzzcocks, Buzzcocks, Buzzcocks.
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.