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 Pakistan and from Beijing.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Second Layer show in South 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 1969 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tokyo and Lille.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Portland 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 1967 at the first Rodriguez practice in a loft in Detroit.
I was working on the arpeggiator 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 Harpers Bizarre 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 Jeff Lynne. All the underground hits.
All Sad Lovers and Giants tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Ultravox record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap 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 clarinet and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Pere Ubu record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Hoover,
The Buckinghams,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Eli Mardock,
Kaleidoscope,
Boogie Down Productions,
Avey Tare,
Cecil Taylor,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Dennis Brown,
Barbara Tucker,
Ponytail,
Section 25,
Spoonie Gee,
Ornette Coleman,
The Beau Brummels,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Harry Pussy,
Nils Olav,
The Doors,
Gregory Isaacs,
Johnny Osbourne,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
The Gladiators,
Derrick May,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Depeche Mode,
Soft Cell,
David McCallum,
Joe Finger,
Cluster,
Rakim,
Bobby Sherman,
PIL,
The Shadows of Knight,
Yellowson,
L. Decosne,
Nation of Ulysses,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Lou Christie,
Terrestrial Tones,
Fort Wilson Riot,
The Martian,
Jesper Dahlback,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Lebanon Hanover,
Franke,
Sex Pistols,
Massinfluence,
Deakin,
Desert Stars,
Marcia Griffiths,
Second Layer,
Michelle Simonal,
Howard Jones,
Terry Callier,
Boredoms,
The Gun Club,
Ultravox,
Magazine,
Ituana,
Big Daddy Kane, Big Daddy Kane, Big Daddy Kane, Big Daddy Kane.
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.