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 East Timor and from Toronto.
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 1961 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manila and Calgary.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Bremen 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 1965 at the first Beefheart practice in a loft in Lancaster.
I was working on the güiro 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 Lucky Dragons to the grime kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Birthday Party. All the underground hits.
All The Litter tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Skriet record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Eli Mardock record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Radiohead,
Kayak,
Aural Exciters,
the Germs,
John Foxx,
Jesper Dahlback,
Dave Gahan,
Essential Logic,
Pussy Galore,
LL Cool J,
Organ,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Bizarre Inc.,
Sight & Sound,
Rod Modell,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Crash Course in Science,
Sexual Harrassment,
DJ Sneak,
Ornette Coleman,
These Immortal Souls,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Drive Like Jehu,
Eric B and Rakim,
Terrestrial Tones,
Peter and Kerry,
The Seeds,
Dennis Brown,
Nik Kershaw,
Mad Mike,
EPMD,
Matthew Bourne,
Maleditus Sound,
Spandau Ballet,
Banda Bassotti,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
The Blues Magoos,
The Mojo Men,
Guru Guru,
Technova,
Soft Cell,
Sparks,
Rufus Thomas,
Cecil Taylor,
Bronski Beat,
Ten City,
Piero Umiliani,
Wally Richardson,
Subhumans,
Throbbing Gristle,
In Retrospect,
Suicide,
Joy Division,
The J.B.'s,
Saccharine Trust,
Fatback Band,
Gabor Szabo,
Camberwell Now,
PIL,
Magma,
Rakim,
The Walker Brothers,
Reagan Youth,
Camouflage, Camouflage, Camouflage, Camouflage.
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.