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 Guatemala and from Manchester.
But I was there.
I was there in 1975.
I was there at the first Ubu show in Cleveland.
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 1968 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Calgary and Edmonton.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Milan 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 1968 at the first Can practice in a loft in Cologne.
I was working on the synthesizer 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 Chrome to the grunge kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Ultravox. All the underground hits.
All Gang Gang Dance tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Amazonics 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Ludus record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Avey Tare,
Oblivians,
Donald Byrd,
Whodini,
Los Fastidios,
The Grass Roots,
Scratch Acid,
The Knickerbockers,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Eddi Front,
Malaria!,
Warsaw,
The Associates,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Maleditus Sound,
The Sonics,
Guru Guru,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
David Axelrod,
Section 25,
The Fugs,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Easy Going,
Nation of Ulysses,
The Monochrome Set,
cv313,
June Days,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Fear,
Bob Dylan,
Bill Near,
Roxy Music,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Silicon Teens,
New Order,
Royal Trux,
Shoche,
Fat Boys,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Rekid,
Groovy Waters,
John Lydon,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Davy DMX,
Banda Bassotti,
The American Breed,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
the Germs,
Ornette Coleman,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Josef K,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
L. Decosne,
The Vogues,
Curtis Mayfield,
Jacques Brel,
Deakin,
The Offenders,
Fatback Band,
Stiv Bators,
Motorama, Motorama, Motorama, Motorama.
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.