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 Algeria and from Johannesburg.
But I was there.
I was there in 1973.
I was there at the first Television show in New York.
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 1965 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Columbus and Johannesburg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manila 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 snare sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Pierre Henry to the disco kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 The Walker Brothers. All the underground hits.
All Oppenheimer Analysis tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Larry & the Blue Notes 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 '70s.
I hear you're buying a rhodes and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Soft Cell record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
MC5,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
The Evens,
John Cale,
Parry Music,
Pet Shop Boys,
Tom Boy,
T.S.O.L.,
Darondo,
Robert Wyatt,
Sun Ra,
Half Japanese,
Agent Orange,
Barbara Tucker,
the Fania All-Stars,
Charles Mingus,
Depeche Mode,
Sexual Harrassment,
Crispian St. Peters,
Schoolly D,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Marvin Gaye,
Tim Buckley,
In Retrospect,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Excepter,
Popol Vuh,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Amon Düül II,
John Holt,
Chris Corsano,
The Associates,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
KRS-One,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Kerri Chandler,
Dorothy Ashby,
Scrapy,
Pulsallama,
The Stooges,
Wire,
Inner City,
The Dirtbombs,
Cheater Slicks,
Lalo Schifrin,
Judy Mowatt,
a-ha,
The Remains,
Flamin' Groovies,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
The Kinks,
Electric Prunes,
Jandek,
The Blackbyrds,
The Litter,
Sarah Menescal,
Iggy Pop,
Thee Headcoats,
Man Eating Sloth,
The Gories,
Joy Division, Joy Division, Joy Division, Joy Division.
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.