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 Mongolia and from Toronto.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Zapp show in Hamilton.
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 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Salvador and London.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Seoul 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 Ubu practice in a loft in Cleveland.
I was working on the harpsichord 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 Pantytec to the grunge 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 The Last Poets. All the underground hits.
All DJ Style tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Chocolate Watch Band 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a 808 and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a the Normal record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Lightning Bolt,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Liliput,
The Cure,
Angry Samoans,
Matthew Bourne,
Eden Ahbez,
New York Dolls,
Howard Jones,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Babytalk,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
T. Rex,
Scion,
Marcia Griffiths,
Soul II Soul,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
The Sonics,
Roger Hodgson,
Bauhaus,
Amon Düül,
June of 44,
Japan,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
The Moleskins,
Harpers Bizarre,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Jandek,
EPMD,
Joe Finger,
Prince Buster,
The Human League,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Johnny Clarke,
Neu!,
Dawn Penn,
Depeche Mode,
Grandmaster Flash,
Sam Rivers,
Tubeway Army,
The Fall,
The Monks,
Stiv Bators,
Anthony Braxton,
Rhythm & Sound,
Audionom,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Kaleidoscope,
Newcleus,
Spandau Ballet,
David Axelrod,
the Slits,
Siglo XX,
The Happenings,
Jacques Brel,
Interpol,
Tropical Tobacco,
The Stooges,
Vainqueur,
Groovy Waters,
Yellowson,
The Blackbyrds,
Livin' Joy, Livin' Joy, Livin' Joy, Livin' Joy.
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.