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 Andorra and from Salvador.
But I was there.
I was there in 2001.
I was there at the first Tiga show in Montreal.
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 1968 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Delhi and Lagos.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Shanghai 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 1976 at the first Buzzcocks practice in a loft in Bolton.
I was working on the spring reverb 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 Ash Ra Tempel to the rock 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 Sexual Harrassment. All the underground hits.
All The Seeds tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Motions record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash 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 oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Hot Snakes record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Reuben Wilson,
Black Bananas,
Nirvana,
Inner City,
X-Ray Spex,
The Moody Blues,
Q65,
Goldenarms,
The Pretty Things,
The Electric Prunes,
Lyres,
the Association,
Tropical Tobacco,
The Dead C,
CMW,
Flamin' Groovies,
Drexciya,
John Holt,
The Fugs,
Essential Logic,
Bootsy Collins,
Bluetip,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
The Trojans,
Spoonie Gee,
Matthew Bourne,
H. Thieme,
Sight & Sound,
Public Image Ltd.,
Barrington Levy,
The Star Department,
Marine Girls,
Zapp,
Colin Newman,
Fad Gadget,
The Neon Judgement,
Fat Boys,
The Blues Magoos,
The Evens,
Derrick Morgan,
Josef K,
Sister Nancy,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Jandek,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Television Personalities,
Bush Tetras,
Sixth Finger,
The Modern Lovers,
Gabor Szabo,
The Birthday Party,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Neu!,
Cymande,
the Human League,
Todd Rundgren,
The Offenders,
Masters at Work,
Tom Boy,
Mad Mike,
Albert Ayler, Albert Ayler, Albert Ayler, Albert Ayler.
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.