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 Gabon and from Tokyo.
But I was there.
I was there in 1965.
I was there at the first Beefheart show in Lancaster.
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 1968 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Johannesburg and Lille.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Edmonton 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 1983 at the first Art of Noise practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the theremin 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 Monks to the techno 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 PIL. All the underground hits.
All Groovy Waters tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Bronski Beat 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a linndrum and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Techniques record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a spring reverb.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Gladiators,
Gil Scott Heron,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Main Source,
Ludus,
Lucky Dragons,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Max Romeo,
Unrelated Segments,
Cymande,
The Seeds,
Wire,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Subhumans,
June Days,
The Slits,
Ronnie Foster,
The Alarm Clocks,
Warren Ellis,
Scion,
Ultravox,
Nils Olav,
Q and Not U,
La Düsseldorf,
The Fall,
10cc,
The Fire Engines,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Fad Gadget,
Funky Four + One,
Supertramp,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Lebanon Hanover,
Peter and Kerry,
Fela Kuti,
World's Most,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Tubeway Army,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Brothers Johnson,
Archie Shepp,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Sugar Minott,
The Sound,
Underground Resistance,
The Misunderstood,
Shuggie Otis,
Eve St. Jones,
Ponytail,
Drive Like Jehu,
Mantronix,
Lalann,
Nas,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Essential Logic,
8 Eyed Spy,
Hoover,
The Moleskins,
The Durutti Column,
Reagan Youth,
The Velvet Underground, The Velvet Underground, The Velvet Underground, The Velvet Underground.
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.