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 Burkina and from Tehran.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Big Star show in Memphis.
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 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bremen and Toronto.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Bremen 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 1971 at the first Selda practice in a loft in Istanbul.
I was working on the synthesizer 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 Dawn Penn to the techno kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Liaisons Dangereuses. All the underground hits.
All Joe Finger tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Ash Ra Tempel record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Wings record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Mark Hollis,
Vainqueur,
World's Most,
Cameo,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Malaria!,
CMW,
Masters at Work,
Moebius,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
8 Eyed Spy,
Bobby Byrd,
the Bar-Kays,
Basic Channel,
Monolake,
The Stooges,
Funky Four + One,
Ultimate Spinach,
the Association,
Glenn Branca,
Bobby Hutcherson,
The Slackers,
Ronan,
Gong,
The Walker Brothers,
Ken Boothe,
the Normal,
The Seeds,
the Human League,
Simply Red,
The Index,
Eric Copeland,
In Retrospect,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Alison Limerick,
Fela Kuti,
Sound Behaviour,
Lee Hazlewood,
Young Marble Giants,
Joe Smooth,
Swell Maps,
Nico,
The Birthday Party,
Television,
the Swans,
Radio Birdman,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
Jimmy McGriff,
Prince Buster,
Wasted Youth,
Depeche Mode,
Model 500,
Hoover,
The Associates,
Altered Images,
Nas,
Moss Icon,
H. Thieme,
Fad Gadget,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Quando Quango,
The Trojans,
Cecil Taylor,
Minutemen, Minutemen, Minutemen, Minutemen.
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.