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 El Salvador and from Hong Kong.
But I was there.
I was there in 1973.
I was there at the first Television show in New York.
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 1962 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Columbus and Copenhagen.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manila 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 Feelies practice in a loft in Haledon.
I was working on the theremin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 The Stooges to the techno kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Moebius. All the underground hits.
All The Offenders tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Von Mondo record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Sonic Youth record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Rakim,
Khruangbin,
New Order,
Lou Reed,
Bush Tetras,
The Real Kids,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Rhythm & Sound,
ABBA,
The Sound,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Camberwell Now,
The Leaves,
Surgeon,
Sam Rivers,
Altered Images,
The Vogues,
Nirvana,
Franke,
The Slits,
Scott Walker,
Niagra,
Matthew Bourne,
Dennis Brown,
Morten Harket,
Swell Maps,
Ice-T,
Tommy Roe,
The Dead C,
Hardrive,
Loose Ends,
Lakeside,
Bizarre Inc.,
the Soft Cell,
The Cramps,
Michelle Simonal,
Talk Talk,
The Cure,
Guru Guru,
Dorothy Ashby,
Marshall Jefferson,
The Fire Engines,
The Misunderstood,
The Music Machine,
Grauzone,
Kerri Chandler,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Bronski Beat,
Lyres,
Absolute Body Control,
The Electric Prunes,
New York Dolls,
Eric B and Rakim,
Negative Approach,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Althea and Donna,
The Tremeloes,
the Association,
Colin Newman, Colin Newman, Colin Newman, Colin Newman.
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.