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 Afghanistan and from Philadelphia.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Human League show in Sheffield.
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 1960 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tehran and Madrid.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Toronto 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 1971 at the first Neu! practice in a loft in Düsseldorf.
I was working on the clarinet 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 Saccharine Trust to the rap kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade. All the underground hits.
All Dorothy Ashby tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Mars record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk 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 sitar and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Fifty Foot Hose record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Ponytail,
The Moleskins,
Throbbing Gristle,
Radiopuhelimet,
Buzzcocks,
Ludus,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Neu!,
Fear,
The Standells,
The Pop Group,
Derrick Morgan,
Surgeon,
Hashim,
Jawbox,
Laurel Aitken,
Roger Hodgson,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Visage,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
UT,
Fad Gadget,
Ronnie Foster,
Sister Nancy,
PIL,
Morten Harket,
Animal Collective,
Goldenarms,
Sound Behaviour,
Minny Pops,
U.S. Maple,
Mandrill,
The Fall,
These Immortal Souls,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Terry Callier,
Dark Day,
Henry Cow,
Harpers Bizarre,
Joyce Sims,
Wings,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
Robert Görl,
Swell Maps,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
EPMD,
Wolf Eyes,
Man Eating Sloth,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Ituana,
Royal Trux,
Country Teasers,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Patti Smith,
The Cramps,
Lakeside,
The Beau Brummels,
Soft Machine,
John Cale, John Cale, John Cale, John Cale.
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.