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 Kiribati and from Philadelphia.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Second Layer show in South 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 1965 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Spokane and Bologna.
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 1983 at the first Art of Noise practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the harpsichord sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Bang on a Can All-Stars to the techno 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 The Doors. All the underground hits.
All Arcadia tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Fad Gadget record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Beau Brummels record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Neon Judgement,
Index,
The United States of America,
The Barracudas,
Laurel Aitken,
The Smoke,
Leonard Cohen,
The Raincoats,
Black Moon,
Neu!,
A Certain Ratio,
The Electric Prunes,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Sonic Youth,
Schoolly D,
Yaz,
Moby Grape,
Josef K,
X-101,
Skarface,
Juan Atkins,
Negative Approach,
Lightning Bolt,
Brass Construction,
Urselle,
F. McDonald,
Brothers Johnson,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
MDC,
June Days,
Grandmaster Flash,
Lucky Dragons,
Unwound,
The J.B.'s,
The Techniques,
This Heat,
Gerry Rafferty,
The Knickerbockers,
Wasted Youth,
Barclay James Harvest,
New Age Steppers,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Colin Newman,
Eli Mardock,
Jandek,
The Gories,
Maurizio,
Lalann,
Robert Görl,
Groovy Waters,
Subhumans,
The Leaves,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Magazine,
Ralphi Rosario,
Soulsonic Force,
Anthony Braxton,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Youth Brigade,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Eric Dolphy,
Crime,
Average White Band, Average White Band, Average White Band, Average White Band.
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.