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 Vanuatu and from Spokane.
But I was there.
I was there in 1968.
I was there at the first Can show in Cologne.
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 1969 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bremen and Stockholm.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 chamberlin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx to the techno 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 Colin Newman. All the underground hits.
All Sun Ra tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Altered Images record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Robert Hood record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Stooges,
Quando Quango,
Boogie Down Productions,
Soulsonic Force,
John Holt,
Tommy Roe,
the Slits,
Stockholm Monsters,
New York Dolls,
The Gories,
Magma,
Main Source,
Symarip,
Slick Rick,
Johnny Osbourne,
Eric Dolphy,
Joy Division,
Bang On A Can,
The Trojans,
the Sonics,
Sight & Sound,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Monks,
the Soft Cell,
Soft Machine,
Little Man,
Tubeway Army,
Sarah Menescal,
Dead Boys,
Siglo XX,
Jerry's Kids,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Spandau Ballet,
Chris & Cosey,
Al Stewart,
AZ,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Amon Düül II,
The Pretty Things,
Pussy Galore,
The Velvet Underground,
8 Eyed Spy,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Swans,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Infiniti,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Flamin' Groovies,
Aaron Thompson,
Skarface,
The Moody Blues,
Vladislav Delay,
Franke,
Lalo Schifrin,
Organ,
Bush Tetras,
DJ Style,
The Dirtbombs,
The Standells,
The J.B.'s,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Bronski Beat, Bronski Beat, Bronski Beat, Bronski Beat.
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.