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 Ghana and from Lagos.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Buzzcocks show in Bolton.
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 1960 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Salvador and Stockholm.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Tokyo 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 Ubu practice in a loft in Cleveland.
I was working on the snare sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Sound to the funk kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 John Coltrane. All the underground hits.
All Oneida tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Gil Scott Heron record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Shadows of Knight record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Byron Stingily,
The Cramps,
The Barracudas,
Interpol,
Nirvana,
The Evens,
Robert Hood,
Henry Cow,
The Monks,
The Alarm Clocks,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Roy Ayers,
Tim Buckley,
Subhumans,
Terry Callier,
Isaac Hayes,
Zapp,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Moby Grape,
The Busters,
Goldenarms,
Mantronix,
Accadde A,
Glenn Branca,
Swell Maps,
Leonard Cohen,
Panda Bear,
Brand Nubian,
Japan,
E-Dancer,
Man Eating Sloth,
Barry Ungar,
Kevin Saunderson,
The Divine Comedy,
Mission of Burma,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Archie Shepp,
The Misunderstood,
Cluster,
Loose Ends,
Kayak,
Grey Daturas,
Bob Dylan,
Fad Gadget,
Eurythmics,
Television Personalities,
Bang On A Can,
Pantaleimon,
Liliput,
Andrew Hill,
The Mummies,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Swans,
James White and The Blacks,
Pharoah Sanders,
Radiohead,
Sugar Minott,
Jeff Lynne,
The Pretty Things,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Ohio Players,
David McCallum,
Technova, Technova, Technova, Technova.
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.