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 Turkey and from Paris.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Neu! show in Düsseldorf.
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 1969 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Johannesburg and Accra.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Calgary 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 1987 at the first Nirvana practice in a loft in Seattle.
I was working on the arpeggiator 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 Five Americans to the dance kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Altered Images. All the underground hits.
All Ash Ra Tempel tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Y Pants record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a rhodes and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Smoke record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Theoretical Girls,
Banda Bassotti,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
The Slits,
Das Ding,
The Human League,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Pere Ubu,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
The Detroit Cobras,
Circle Jerks,
Black Flag,
Wally Richardson,
Nils Olav,
Duran Duran,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Aswad,
Depeche Mode,
Agitation Free,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Spoonie Gee,
R.M.O.,
La Düsseldorf,
Wire,
Rotary Connection,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Eric B and Rakim,
Susan Cadogan,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
The Dave Clark Five,
Average White Band,
Judy Mowatt,
DJ Sneak,
Brand Nubian,
The Knickerbockers,
the Sonics,
The Fortunes,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Kerrie Biddell,
Japan,
Sister Nancy,
Von Mondo,
cv313,
Arcadia,
Joey Negro,
The Kinks,
The Mummies,
Mad Mike,
Urselle,
Terrestrial Tones,
Davy DMX,
Easy Going,
Siglo XX,
Warren Ellis,
The Electric Prunes,
Animal Collective,
Au Pairs,
Crispian St. Peters,
The Red Krayola, The Red Krayola, The Red Krayola, The Red Krayola.
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.