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 Lebanon and from Beijing.
But I was there.
I was there in 1968.
I was there at the first Can show in Cologne.
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 Tehran and Toronto.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Mumbai 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 1975 at the first Throbbing Gristle practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the arpeggiator 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 The Toasters to the disco kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Bob Dylan. All the underground hits.
All The Black Dice tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Glenn Branca record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz 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 marimba and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Lalann record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
F. McDonald,
Suburban Knight,
Derrick May,
Rites of Spring,
Ultimate Spinach,
The Doors,
The Slits,
Agitation Free,
Ultravox,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Graham Central Station,
Scion,
Wings,
Marmalade,
The Young Rascals,
Adolescents,
X-Ray Spex,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Ice-T,
Lebanon Hanover,
Wally Richardson,
Barrington Levy,
The Detroit Cobras,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
The Fugs,
Patti Smith,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Gerry Rafferty,
Hasil Adkins,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Arthur Verocai,
Wolf Eyes,
the Swans,
Neil Young,
DJ Sneak,
Faust,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Radio Birdman,
The Zeros,
Bauhaus,
New York Dolls,
The Durutti Column,
Scan 7,
Unwound,
The Wake,
The Last Poets,
Joensuu 1685,
Pierre Henry,
Q and Not U,
Minnie Riperton,
Fear,
Brass Construction,
The Knickerbockers,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
The Velvet Underground,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Bluetip,
Soft Cell,
Lightning Bolt,
Scott Walker,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Deepchord, Deepchord, Deepchord, Deepchord.
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.