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 St Lucia and from Lyon.
But I was there.
I was there in 1975.
I was there at the first Throbbing Gristle show in London.
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 1963 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Hong Kong and Woodstock.
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 1977 at the first Zapp practice in a loft in Hamilton.
I was working on the theremin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Donald Byrd to the grime kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Shuggie Otis. All the underground hits.
All Drive Like Jehu tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Sun Ra record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap 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 mellotron and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a H. Thieme record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
the Sonics,
Robert Hood,
Lou Christie,
Pierre Henry,
Kayak,
Au Pairs,
The Busters,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Dead Boys,
Little Man,
DNA,
Basic Channel,
Nirvana,
Kurtis Blow,
Harpers Bizarre,
Oblivians,
Marvin Gaye,
Jacob Miller,
Jawbox,
Alison Limerick,
UT,
Lou Reed,
Hot Snakes,
The Angels of Light,
X-101,
Isaac Hayes,
Sight & Sound,
Ice-T,
Pharoah Sanders,
Tim Buckley,
Faraquet,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Johnny Clarke,
Tubeway Army,
Dual Sessions,
The Vogues,
The Monks,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Heaven 17,
The Victims,
K-Klass,
Kaleidoscope,
Von Mondo,
The New Christs,
Clear Light,
Camberwell Now,
Mission of Burma,
Agent Orange,
The Durutti Column,
U.S. Maple,
Ronan,
Massinfluence,
Josef K,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Sandy B,
Derrick May,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Camouflage,
Bill Near, Bill Near, Bill Near, Bill Near.
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.