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 Greece and from Glasgow.
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 1968 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Shanghai and Beijing.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Paris 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 1965 at the first Beefheart practice in a loft in Lancaster.
I was working on the arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Arcadia to the punk kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Swell Maps. All the underground hits.
All The Pretty Things tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Nick Fraelich record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Ronnie Foster 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?
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
A Certain Ratio,
Television Personalities,
Bronski Beat,
Boogie Down Productions,
Hoover,
Oneida,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
T. Rex,
8 Eyed Spy,
The Gap Band,
Harpers Bizarre,
Ken Boothe,
The Sound,
Duran Duran,
Jacques Brel,
The Divine Comedy,
Cheater Slicks,
Jawbox,
Fela Kuti,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
the Slits,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Matthew Bourne,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Pussy Galore,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
JFA,
Supertramp,
June of 44,
Masters at Work,
John Lydon,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Pet Shop Boys,
Brick,
The Doobie Brothers,
Sonny Sharrock,
Fat Boys,
Amazonics,
Wally Richardson,
Vladislav Delay,
Matthew Halsall,
Archie Shepp,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
China Crisis,
Anthony Braxton,
These Immortal Souls,
Susan Cadogan,
Dead Boys,
Reuben Wilson,
Be Bop Deluxe,
John Foxx,
The Happenings,
Deadbeat,
New York Dolls,
Intrusion,
Khruangbin,
10cc,
The Doors,
The Moleskins,
Tres Demented,
Panda Bear, Panda Bear, Panda Bear, Panda Bear.
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.