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 Congo and from Shanghai.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Zapp show in Hamilton.
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 1967 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Glasgow and Copenhagen.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Bologna 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 1987 at the first Nirvana practice in a loft in Seattle.
I was working on the arpeggiator 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 John Holt to the rock 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 Rakim. All the underground hits.
All Reuben Wilson tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Erykah Badu record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime 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 güiro and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines 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?
Wire,
Curtis Mayfield,
Andrew Hill,
Visage,
The Black Dice,
Bang On A Can,
The Slits,
DJ Sneak,
Arcadia,
The Motions,
Avey Tare,
Slick Rick,
Animal Collective,
Mandrill,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
The Index,
Bad Manners,
Audionom,
Fela Kuti,
DNA,
The Walker Brothers,
Robert Görl,
Rapeman,
Sun Ra,
Make Up,
Mad Mike,
ABBA,
Grey Daturas,
Lucky Dragons,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
KRS-One,
Suburban Knight,
Niagra,
Dawn Penn,
Mark Hollis,
The Zeros,
Circle Jerks,
John Cale,
Quantec,
Tres Demented,
Amon Düül,
Glenn Branca,
The Names,
Con Funk Shun,
Depeche Mode,
Lee Hazlewood,
Prince Buster,
The New Christs,
Jawbox,
Dead Boys,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
LL Cool J,
Infiniti,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Moby Grape,
Marcia Griffiths,
Half Japanese,
Model 500,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Quadrant, Quadrant, Quadrant, Quadrant.
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.