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 Kazakhstan and from Tehran.
But I was there.
I was there in 1975.
I was there at the first Throbbing Gristle show in London.
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 1967 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Johannesburg and Philadelphia.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Taipei 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 Lewis practice in a loft in Vancouver.
I was working on the clarinet 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 Kurtis Blow to the jazz kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 The Alarm Clocks. All the underground hits.
All Sun Ra Arkestra tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Popol Vuh record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash 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 spring reverb and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Unrelated Segments record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Youth Brigade,
The Walker Brothers,
Monolake,
Donny Hathaway,
Deakin,
Mark Hollis,
Metal Thangz,
Hardrive,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Colin Newman,
The Kinks,
Ultravox,
Howard Jones,
Radiohead,
48th St. Collective,
Glambeats Corp.,
Fugazi,
The Blues Magoos,
MC5,
Dawn Penn,
Pierre Henry,
Pantytec,
Grandmaster Flash,
CMW,
John Holt,
Echospace,
Flash Fearless,
Bob Dylan,
Vladislav Delay,
The Alarm Clocks,
Cecil Taylor,
Panda Bear,
Scratch Acid,
The Trojans,
Eddi Front,
the Bar-Kays,
Brand Nubian,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Shuggie Otis,
Von Mondo,
Lindisfarne,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Cluster,
Barry Ungar,
Delon & Dalcan,
The Black Dice,
EPMD,
B.T. Express,
Throbbing Gristle,
John Foxx,
Franke,
Whodini,
Joe Smooth,
The United States of America,
Ken Boothe,
The Techniques,
Bad Manners,
Big Daddy Kane,
Amon Düül II,
The Neon Judgement,
Fatback Band, Fatback Band, Fatback Band, Fatback Band.
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.