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 Belarus and from Hong Kong.
But I was there.
I was there in 1980.
I was there at the first Cybotron show in Detroit.
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 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Jakarta and New York.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lille 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 1979 at the first Josef K practice in a loft in Edinburgh.
I was working on the theremin 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 Barbara Tucker to the techno kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Scan 7. All the underground hits.
All Unwound tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Sad Lovers and Giants 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Associates record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Amon Düül,
Minny Pops,
Television,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Index,
The Last Poets,
The Toasters,
Cecil Taylor,
Alison Limerick,
Sparks,
Siglo XX,
the Germs,
Main Source,
Drive Like Jehu,
Oblivians,
Pere Ubu,
Shuggie Otis,
Rosa Yemen,
Pussy Galore,
Outsiders,
Procol Harum,
ABBA,
MC5,
Mark Hollis,
Crash Course in Science,
Lee Hazlewood,
In Retrospect,
Barrington Levy,
Soft Cell,
The Sound,
Scientists,
Stetsasonic,
Moebius,
The Martian,
Unrelated Segments,
The Fugs,
Blancmange,
Brothers Johnson,
Bizarre Inc.,
Fatback Band,
Simply Red,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Silicon Teens,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Wally Richardson,
Stereo Dub,
Steve Hackett,
Public Enemy,
Harpers Bizarre,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
The Doors,
The Beau Brummels,
Pole,
Matthew Bourne,
Donald Byrd,
Lungfish,
Black Bananas,
Scrapy,
Kurtis Blow,
The New Christs,
The Five Americans, The Five Americans, The Five Americans, The Five Americans.
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.