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 Iran and from Houston.
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 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Winnipeg and Tehran.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Halifax 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 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 Flesh Eaters to the grime 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 Drexciya. All the underground hits.
All Warren Ellis tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Echospace 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Brand Nubian record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Human League,
Warsaw,
Ten City,
Derrick Morgan,
Hardrive,
Scott Walker,
the Bar-Kays,
Yellowson,
Barbara Tucker,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Josef K,
Dennis Brown,
Rakim,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
The Seeds,
Hashim,
Sister Nancy,
LL Cool J,
Adolescents,
Stetsasonic,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Soft Cell,
Crooked Eye,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Eurythmics,
Brothers Johnson,
Connie Case,
Ultimate Spinach,
Dead Boys,
The Fortunes,
The Sisters of Mercy,
The Alarm Clocks,
David Bowie,
Gang of Four,
Black Flag,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Alison Limerick,
Cheater Slicks,
Iggy Pop,
Laurel Aitken,
Rosa Yemen,
The American Breed,
the Association,
Fear,
Bill Wells,
Marshall Jefferson,
U.S. Maple,
Monolake,
The Leaves,
Wire,
The Saints,
Mars,
Pierre Henry,
the Human League,
Lower 48,
Barry Ungar,
Roxette,
Michelle Simonal,
Tres Demented, Tres Demented, Tres Demented, Tres Demented.
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.