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 Kyrgyzstan and from Milan.
But I was there.
I was there in 1978.
I was there at the first Visage 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 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lille and Shanghai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Taipei 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 Ubu practice in a loft in Cleveland.
I was working on the 808 sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Theoretical Girls to the rock 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 La Düsseldorf. All the underground hits.
All Agent Orange tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Con Funk Shun 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 '80s.
I hear you're buying a chamberlin and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Prince Buster record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Shadows of Knight,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Anthony Braxton,
Inner City,
the Slits,
Yaz,
a-ha,
Saccharine Trust,
Roger Hodgson,
Brothers Johnson,
Patti Smith,
June of 44,
Scion,
Young Marble Giants,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Dead Boys,
48th St. Collective,
Drexciya,
The Flesh Eaters,
Eric Copeland,
Erykah Badu,
Icehouse,
Cybotron,
The Electric Prunes,
The Music Machine,
Little Man,
The Sound,
Laurel Aitken,
The Count Five,
Traffic Nightmare,
ABBA,
Slave,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
The Gladiators,
Lou Christie,
Henry Cow,
Ten City,
Half Japanese,
David McCallum,
Symarip,
Ultra Naté,
the Germs,
Can,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Kevin Saunderson,
Dawn Penn,
Brand Nubian,
Tres Demented,
Thee Headcoats,
Black Pus,
Monks,
The Motions,
Letta Mbulu,
Barbara Tucker,
The Velvet Underground,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Niagra,
Sonic Youth,
Harpers Bizarre,
Zero Boys, Zero Boys, Zero Boys, Zero Boys.
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.