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 Iraq and from Lagos.
But I was there.
I was there in 1975.
I was there at the first Ubu show in Cleveland.
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 1961 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Halifax and Seoul.
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 1977 at the first Zapp practice in a loft in Hamilton.
I was working on the 808 sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Talk Talk to the techno kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Au Pairs. All the underground hits.
All Ash Ra Tempel tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every DJ Style 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Agitation Free record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Dennis Brown,
Stiv Bators,
The Index,
LL Cool J,
Unwound,
Chris Corsano,
Don Cherry,
Sarah Menescal,
The Human League,
Whodini,
Stockholm Monsters,
The Mighty Diamonds,
the Association,
The Saints,
The Seeds,
Ronnie Foster,
Lower 48,
AZ,
Jeff Lynne,
Eurythmics,
Rakim,
Dark Day,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
U.S. Maple,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Silicon Teens,
Theoretical Girls,
the Soft Cell,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Sister Nancy,
Inner City,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
The Durutti Column,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Clear Light,
Unrelated Segments,
Public Image Ltd.,
the Slits,
Pierre Henry,
Lakeside,
The Fugs,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Johnny Osbourne,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Curtis Mayfield,
Animal Collective,
Erasure,
China Crisis,
Rapeman,
Make Up,
The Angels of Light,
Wire,
K-Klass,
The Slackers,
Harmonia,
Terry Callier,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Blancmange,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
The Smiths,
Jandek, Jandek, Jandek, Jandek.
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.