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 Libya and from Seoul.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Zapp show in Hamilton.
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 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Glasgow.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Spokane 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 1980 at the first Cybotron practice in a loft in Detroit.
I was working on the arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Be Bop Deluxe to the punk kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Fatback Band. All the underground hits.
All The J.B.'s tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Patti Smith record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Livin' Joy,
The Mojo Men,
Arab on Radar,
Slave,
Excepter,
Television,
Sam Rivers,
Visage,
Subhumans,
Sandy B,
cv313,
The Saints,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Das Ding,
The Trojans,
Warsaw,
Roxette,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
The Toasters,
the Germs,
Yusef Lateef,
Alison Limerick,
The Standells,
Rotary Connection,
Tears for Fears,
PIL,
Ossler,
Index,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Crash Course in Science,
Quadrant,
Amon Düül,
Gang Gang Dance,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Avey Tare,
Tubeway Army,
Cal Tjader,
Aloha Tigers,
Rod Modell,
Minnie Riperton,
The Happenings,
Toni Rubio,
Boredoms,
Ken Boothe,
John Lydon,
Lucky Dragons,
Smog,
Yellowson,
Faust,
Inner City,
The Raincoats,
Gregory Isaacs,
Althea and Donna,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Todd Rundgren,
The Gun Club,
Kevin Saunderson,
Morten Harket,
Electric Light Orchestra,
MC5, MC5, MC5, MC5.
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.