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 Switzerland and from Mumbai.
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 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Seoul.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Paris 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 1973 at the first Television practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Neu! to the rock 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 Yazoo. All the underground hits.
All Gian Franco Pienzio tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Juan Atkins 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Ludus,
Quadrant,
Swans,
Subhumans,
Adolescents,
The Standells,
Young Marble Giants,
Talk Talk,
Crispian St. Peters,
Heaven 17,
Matthew Bourne,
Crime,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
The Fall,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Fort Wilson Riot,
La Düsseldorf,
Chris Corsano,
Judy Mowatt,
Jacques Brel,
Jawbox,
Clear Light,
Crooked Eye,
Neu!,
New York Dolls,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Japan,
Public Image Ltd.,
James White and The Blacks,
Soft Cell,
Nirvana,
Fatback Band,
Flamin' Groovies,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Wire,
Pharoah Sanders,
Country Teasers,
Lightning Bolt,
Essential Logic,
The Star Department,
Piero Umiliani,
Pagans,
The Slits,
Jeff Lynne,
Marshall Jefferson,
Buzzcocks,
the Human League,
The Pop Group,
In Retrospect,
The Dirtbombs,
Depeche Mode,
The Shadows of Knight,
Scientists,
Monolake,
Siglo XX,
Anakelly,
Kevin Saunderson,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Spoonie Gee, Spoonie Gee, Spoonie Gee, Spoonie Gee.
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.