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 Estonia and from Toronto.
But I was there.
I was there in 1975.
I was there at the first Throbbing Gristle show in London.
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 1966 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Winnipeg and Bologna.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 1979 at the first Second Layer practice in a loft in South London.
I was working on the theremin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu to the punk kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Bang on a Can All-Stars. All the underground hits.
All Joyce Sims tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The United States of America record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Sun Ra Arkestra record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Yazoo,
Reuben Wilson,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Minutemen,
Derrick May,
Stereo Dub,
Aloha Tigers,
Los Fastidios,
Andrew Hill,
Junior Murvin,
Agitation Free,
Mark Hollis,
Rites of Spring,
Ituana,
Black Sheep,
Cymande,
X-Ray Spex,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Boz Scaggs,
The Dave Clark Five,
Marvin Gaye,
The Mummies,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Roxette,
T. Rex,
Sarah Menescal,
David Bowie,
Barry Ungar,
Scan 7,
Darondo,
The Dirtbombs,
Ponytail,
Cecil Taylor,
Laurel Aitken,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Scientists,
Unrelated Segments,
Metal Thangz,
Barclay James Harvest,
The Sonics,
The Young Rascals,
Grey Daturas,
Delta 5,
Funky Four + One,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Gil Scott Heron,
Althea and Donna,
Be Bop Deluxe,
The Zeros,
Silicon Teens,
Rekid,
Idris Muhammad,
DNA,
Tubeway Army,
Avey Tare,
Mandrill,
Joyce Sims,
The Standells,
The Velvet Underground,
Susan Cadogan,
Scrapy,
Suburban Knight,
Black Moon,
This Heat, This Heat, This Heat, This Heat.
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.