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 Brazil and from Lagos.
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 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in London and Lagos.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 snare 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 Yazoo to the rock kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Beasts of Bourbon. All the underground hits.
All The Chocolate Watch Band tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Curtis Mayfield record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance 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 harpsichord and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Blake Baxter record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Schoolly D,
Nirvana,
Johnny Osbourne,
K-Klass,
Scientists,
Ralphi Rosario,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Don Cherry,
Wings,
Vainqueur,
Surgeon,
Shuggie Otis,
Swans,
The Seeds,
Flamin' Groovies,
Bootsy Collins,
The Gun Club,
Kurtis Blow,
Sam Rivers,
DJ Sneak,
Dave Gahan,
Ornette Coleman,
AZ,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
the Bar-Kays,
Sister Nancy,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Lebanon Hanover,
Ludus,
Rekid,
Mad Mike,
Stiv Bators,
The Monks,
Drive Like Jehu,
Underground Resistance,
The Busters,
The United States of America,
Main Source,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Patti Smith,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Ultravox,
Matthew Halsall,
Ituana,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Idris Muhammad,
The Electric Prunes,
The Doors,
Mantronix,
Cecil Taylor,
R.M.O.,
The Litter,
Throbbing Gristle,
Boredoms,
Lungfish,
New Order,
X-101,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Los Fastidios,
Nas,
Mission of Burma,
The Moleskins,
The Gories, The Gories, The Gories, The Gories.
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.