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 Cameroon and from Hong Kong.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Josef K show in Edinburgh.
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 1966 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manila and Tokyo.
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 1977 at the first Mistral practice in a loft in Amsterdam.
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 Mad Mike to the disco 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 The Mighty Diamonds. All the underground hits.
All Buzzcocks tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every the Swans record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
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 Drexciya record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Fire Engines,
Nils Olav,
Barbara Tucker,
Ultravox,
China Crisis,
Vainqueur,
Youth Brigade,
Eric B and Rakim,
This Heat,
Anthony Braxton,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Neu!,
Altered Images,
Tres Demented,
Arab on Radar,
Flipper,
Scratch Acid,
Boogie Down Productions,
The Five Americans,
Deadbeat,
Soulsonic Force,
Kerri Chandler,
Fad Gadget,
Cymande,
Franke,
Sparks,
Grandmaster Flash,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
MC5,
Reagan Youth,
Eurythmics,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Camouflage,
Bronski Beat,
Graham Central Station,
X-101,
Jawbox,
The United States of America,
Sugar Minott,
Tubeway Army,
Excepter,
K-Klass,
Mad Mike,
The Pop Group,
cv313,
Tears for Fears,
Lower 48,
Albert Ayler,
Skriet,
Quadrant,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
The Dead C,
Ludus,
The Move,
Cecil Taylor,
Bobby Byrd,
Aural Exciters,
Henry Cow,
Crispian St. Peters,
Pagans,
Alison Limerick,
Radiopuhelimet,
The Kinks, The Kinks, The Kinks, The Kinks.
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.