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 Fiji and from Bologna.
But I was there.
I was there in 1975.
I was there at the first Throbbing Gristle 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 1961 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and London.
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 1967 at the first Rodriguez practice in a loft in Detroit.
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 Be Bop Deluxe to the electroclash kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Godley & Creme. All the underground hits.
All Joe Finger tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every James Chance & The Contortions 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 '90s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Skriet record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Alphaville,
Tres Demented,
Matthew Bourne,
Eric Copeland,
Mr. Review,
Quando Quango,
Agent Orange,
Soft Machine,
Kerri Chandler,
Bootsy Collins,
Make Up,
Cluster,
The Busters,
Theoretical Girls,
Chrome,
Aaron Thompson,
Neu!,
The Smiths,
Sällskapet,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Japan,
Flamin' Groovies,
Crooked Eye,
Suicide,
Wings,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Sparks,
The Velvet Underground,
Spandau Ballet,
Nirvana,
Stiv Bators,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Toni Rubio,
Model 500,
Frankie Knuckles,
The Human League,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
New Order,
The Leaves,
Jerry's Kids,
Wally Richardson,
Aural Exciters,
The Victims,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Cabaret Voltaire,
The Flesh Eaters,
The Kinks,
The Techniques,
Jeff Lynne,
Lightning Bolt,
Magma,
Easy Going,
the Slits,
Nik Kershaw,
Rotary Connection,
ABBA,
Rufus Thomas,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Ponytail,
Ornette Coleman, Ornette Coleman, Ornette Coleman, Ornette Coleman.
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.