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 Kuwait and from Houston.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Second Layer show in South 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 1967 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Sao Paulo and Johannesburg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Winnipeg 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 synthesizer sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Blossom Toes to the punk kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Pet Shop Boys. All the underground hits.
All N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Neon Judgement record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a mellotron and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Theoretical Girls record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Model 500,
Colin Newman,
Oblivians,
Kas Product,
Gerry Rafferty,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Q and Not U,
Hardrive,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Von Mondo,
David Bowie,
Jeru the Damaja,
Quantec,
The Count Five,
Cymande,
Scan 7,
The Real Kids,
In Retrospect,
48th St. Collective,
Joy Division,
Mantronix,
The Techniques,
James White and The Blacks,
Das Ding,
Hot Snakes,
Albert Ayler,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Soft Machine,
Hashim,
X-102,
Drive Like Jehu,
The Five Americans,
Scott Walker,
Freddie Wadling,
Grandmaster Flash,
John Coltrane,
Sex Pistols,
the Slits,
Godley & Creme,
10cc,
Outsiders,
Terrestrial Tones,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Sound Behaviour,
Lower 48,
Boz Scaggs,
Sugar Minott,
The Zeros,
Nick Fraelich,
Angry Samoans,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Henry Cow,
Stiv Bators,
Reagan Youth,
Pharoah Sanders,
Wire,
The Dave Clark Five,
Visage, Visage, Visage, Visage.
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.