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 Taiwan and from Portland.
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 1965 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Milan and Accra.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Philadelphia 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 Second Layer practice in a loft in South London.
I was working on the theremin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Rotary Connection to the electroclash 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 Siouxsie and the Banshees. All the underground hits.
All Barclay James Harvest tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a chamberlin and a 808 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 synthesizer and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Matthew Halsall,
Isaac Hayes,
Joy Division,
Steve Hackett,
Basic Channel,
Piero Umiliani,
Quantec,
Goldenarms,
Althea and Donna,
H. Thieme,
The Fuzztones,
Cymande,
Camberwell Now,
The Human League,
Gang of Four,
Bootsy Collins,
PIL,
Harpers Bizarre,
Sixth Finger,
Soul Sonic Force,
The Barracudas,
Ituana,
Second Layer,
Pulsallama,
Grauzone,
The Associates,
K-Klass,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
The Moleskins,
Chrome,
Pere Ubu,
Joensuu 1685,
Ultimate Spinach,
T. Rex,
Visage,
Glenn Branca,
Sister Nancy,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Bobby Sherman,
Bobby Hutcherson,
JFA,
Charles Mingus,
Eric Copeland,
Jacques Brel,
The Birthday Party,
Duran Duran,
AZ,
The Pretty Things,
Stereo Dub,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Deepchord,
The Red Krayola,
Moss Icon,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Cecil Taylor,
Main Source,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
Zapp,
Todd Terry,
Suburban Knight,
the Association,
The Music Machine,
Fatback Band, Fatback Band, Fatback Band, Fatback Band.
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.