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 Barbados and from Manila.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Neu! show in Düsseldorf.
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 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and Spokane.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manchester 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 chamberlin 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 Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam to the grunge kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Drexciya. All the underground hits.
All Gil Scott Heron tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Piero Umiliani record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Gastr Del Sol record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Rod Modell,
Yazoo,
Japan,
John Coltrane,
Delta 5,
One Last Wish,
Average White Band,
Laurel Aitken,
Rufus Thomas,
The United States of America,
Technova,
Blancmange,
Babytalk,
Pere Ubu,
Byron Stingily,
Animal Collective,
Basic Channel,
Eve St. Jones,
In Retrospect,
Peter & Gordon,
Fatback Band,
Gil Scott Heron,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
The Cowsills,
Black Moon,
Tubeway Army,
Wire,
Godley & Creme,
The Gladiators,
Cybotron,
Throbbing Gristle,
Jeff Lynne,
Kerrie Biddell,
Janne Schatter,
R.M.O.,
Wolf Eyes,
The Fuzztones,
Sex Pistols,
Rhythm & Sound,
Oneida,
Dawn Penn,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
Rotary Connection,
The Blackbyrds,
Slick Rick,
The Grass Roots,
Sandy B,
John Foxx,
Los Fastidios,
Ohio Players,
T. Rex,
Main Source,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Eli Mardock,
The Star Department,
Glenn Branca,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Crime,
Goldenarms,
Peter and Kerry,
Hoover,
Ituana,
Sam Rivers, Sam Rivers, Sam Rivers, Sam Rivers.
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.