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 Latvia and from Hong Kong.
But I was there.
I was there in 1983.
I was there at the first Bronski Beat show in Brixton.
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 1962 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Halifax and Jakarta.
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 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 Monolake to the techno kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson. All the underground hits.
All David Axelrod tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Robert Hood record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a snare and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Hot Snakes record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Drexciya,
John Holt,
The Monochrome Set,
David Axelrod,
Gichy Dan,
Main Source,
Donald Byrd,
The Moleskins,
Visage,
T. Rex,
Wally Richardson,
Television,
Tears for Fears,
Jeff Mills,
Hoover,
Tomorrow,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Bauhaus,
Bizarre Inc.,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Man Parrish,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Sun City Girls,
Youth Brigade,
Nirvana,
Tim Buckley,
Pagans,
Flash Fearless,
Bobby Sherman,
Lyres,
Eve St. Jones,
The Raincoats,
Scott Walker,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Patti Smith,
Traffic Nightmare,
Con Funk Shun,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Masters at Work,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
The Residents,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Ultravox,
New York Dolls,
Chris Corsano,
Au Pairs,
The Electric Prunes,
John Lydon,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Flipper,
Amazonics,
Quantec,
Wolf Eyes,
The Durutti Column,
Radiopuhelimet,
Heaven 17,
Japan,
Todd Terry,
Public Image Ltd.,
The Doors,
Swans, Swans, Swans, Swans.
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.