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 Latvia and from Madrid.
But I was there.
I was there in 1975.
I was there at the first Ubu show in Cleveland.
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 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Jakarta and Madrid.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 1975 at the first Throbbing Gristle practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the harpsichord 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 The Move to the funk 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 Electric Prunes. All the underground hits.
All Sight & Sound tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Charles Mingus record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Bobby Womack record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
In Retrospect,
John Coltrane,
The Young Rascals,
Yellowson,
Joy Division,
New Order,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Marmalade,
Brothers Johnson,
Max Romeo,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Stockholm Monsters,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Slick Rick,
Johnny Osbourne,
Joensuu 1685,
Deakin,
Grauzone,
Dave Gahan,
Lungfish,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Roger Hodgson,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Eyeless In Gaza,
The Zeros,
Sun City Girls,
Traffic Nightmare,
Essential Logic,
Quando Quango,
Glenn Branca,
Sällskapet,
Bronski Beat,
The Monochrome Set,
Boz Scaggs,
Neil Young,
Tropical Tobacco,
Bobbi Humphrey,
These Immortal Souls,
The Monks,
Angry Samoans,
Scott Walker,
Derrick Morgan,
Gerry Rafferty,
the Bar-Kays,
Sexual Harrassment,
The Skatalites,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Eric Dolphy,
Marc Almond,
Henry Cow,
DJ Style,
Throbbing Gristle,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Minor Threat,
Bill Wells,
Ultravox,
Bizarre Inc.,
Drive Like Jehu,
Funkadelic,
Soft Machine, Soft Machine, Soft Machine, Soft Machine.
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.