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 New Zealand and from Taipei.
But I was there.
I was there in 1978.
I was there at the first Visage show in 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 1961 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Madrid and Winnipeg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school New York 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 oboe sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Trumans Water to the crunk 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 Byron Stingily. All the underground hits.
All Eric B and Rakim tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Public Enemy record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk 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 clarinet and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Ossler record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Pylon,
Letta Mbulu,
Fugazi,
Television,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
The Associates,
Man Eating Sloth,
The Mojo Men,
Livin' Joy,
Fat Boys,
EPMD,
The Sonics,
Don Cherry,
Sound Behaviour,
Marmalade,
Black Pus,
Kevin Saunderson,
Aaron Thompson,
Das Ding,
Jandek,
Sun Ra,
Pussy Galore,
Subhumans,
Bob Dylan,
The Doors,
Lightning Bolt,
The Index,
The Remains,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Gil Scott Heron,
the Association,
The Monks,
LL Cool J,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Funkadelic,
a-ha,
Chris & Cosey,
Visage,
Mark Hollis,
Sexual Harrassment,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Khruangbin,
Chris Corsano,
Barrington Levy,
Gregory Isaacs,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Neil Young,
Marvin Gaye,
Albert Ayler,
Zapp,
Cecil Taylor,
Isaac Hayes,
The Gun Club,
B.T. Express,
Malaria!,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Sun City Girls,
Bluetip,
Faraquet, Faraquet, Faraquet, Faraquet.
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.