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 Congo and from Sao Paulo.
But I was there.
I was there in 1975.
I was there at the first Ubu show in Cleveland.
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 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Beijing and Lille.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Calgary 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 oboe sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Gerry Rafferty to the grunge 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 Absolute Body Control. All the underground hits.
All Alphaville tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Gang Gang Dance 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Traffic Nightmare record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Metal Thangz,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Guru Guru,
The Doors,
Wire,
Lee Hazlewood,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Barrington Levy,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Eurythmics,
Quadrant,
Althea and Donna,
Robert Wyatt,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
A Certain Ratio,
Brand Nubian,
Fluxion,
Hoover,
Traffic Nightmare,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Derrick May,
These Immortal Souls,
48th St. Collective,
The Divine Comedy,
Grauzone,
The Dave Clark Five,
David Bowie,
The Birthday Party,
Iggy Pop,
John Holt,
Technova,
the Bar-Kays,
Ice-T,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Zapp,
Aural Exciters,
Crime,
Charles Mingus,
Sun City Girls,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Moss Icon,
Joyce Sims,
Scratch Acid,
Gil Scott Heron,
Khruangbin,
Sparks,
Subhumans,
The Happenings,
Pierre Henry,
Malaria!,
Barry Ungar,
Avey Tare,
Interpol,
The Gladiators,
Spoonie Gee,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Alphaville,
Leonard Cohen,
Arthur Verocai,
Smog,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Depeche Mode,
The Slits, The Slits, The Slits, The Slits.
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.