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 Sri Lanka and from Spokane.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Mistral show in Amsterdam.
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 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Winnipeg and Edmonton.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Cairo 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 clarinet 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 Au Pairs to the crunk kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Electric Light Orchestra. All the underground hits.
All Vladislav Delay tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Ponytail record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco 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 an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Birthday Party record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Soft Cell,
Gang Starr,
The Cramps,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Skriet,
Grey Daturas,
Fela Kuti,
Jandek,
R.M.O.,
The Mummies,
Sonny Sharrock,
Smog,
Minutemen,
Gil Scott Heron,
Marshall Jefferson,
Spandau Ballet,
Audionom,
L. Decosne,
Lou Christie,
Lalo Schifrin,
Funkadelic,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Minor Threat,
Fugazi,
Magma,
Television,
Bluetip,
Anakelly,
Wolf Eyes,
Franke,
Scion,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Arthur Verocai,
Dorothy Ashby,
Glenn Branca,
Soul Sonic Force,
Outsiders,
The Electric Prunes,
Jacques Brel,
The Wake,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Panda Bear,
Pylon,
Idris Muhammad,
John Coltrane,
The Techniques,
Lungfish,
the Human League,
Wally Richardson,
Scan 7,
the Association,
Bill Near,
Swell Maps,
Kevin Saunderson,
Angry Samoans,
Vainqueur,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Nico,
Altered Images,
Ornette Coleman,
Symarip,
Arab on Radar,
Radiohead, Radiohead, Radiohead, Radiohead.
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.