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 Sri Lanka and from Manchester.
But I was there.
I was there in 1970.
I was there at the first Onyeabor show in Enugu.
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 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in London and Copenhagen.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Edmonton 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 Big Star practice in a loft in Memphis.
I was working on the 808 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 Wire to the electroclash kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Bauhaus. All the underground hits.
All Zapp tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Barbara Tucker 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a mellotron and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Zeros record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Radiohead,
Yaz,
Minutemen,
Amazonics,
Fat Boys,
Gong,
Toni Rubio,
The Mojo Men,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Mantronix,
Mark Hollis,
Glenn Branca,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Rufus Thomas,
Alison Limerick,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Duran Duran,
Pussy Galore,
The Raincoats,
Delta 5,
Harry Pussy,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Sly & The Family Stone,
John Cale,
The Angels of Light,
The Young Rascals,
Eurythmics,
Roxy Music,
Man Parrish,
Camouflage,
Boogie Down Productions,
The Alarm Clocks,
Ralphi Rosario,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Todd Rundgren,
Au Pairs,
Pet Shop Boys,
Man Eating Sloth,
Maleditus Sound,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Danielle Patucci,
Boz Scaggs,
T.S.O.L.,
The Beau Brummels,
Dawn Penn,
Crispy Ambulance,
a-ha,
Don Cherry,
Kerri Chandler,
Iggy Pop,
MC5,
Quando Quango,
Severed Heads,
Lungfish,
The American Breed,
Kaleidoscope,
Mars,
Slave,
Loose Ends,
Buzzcocks, Buzzcocks, Buzzcocks, Buzzcocks.
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.