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 Cambodia and from Philadelphia.
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 1967 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Delhi and Accra.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Salvador 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 snare 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 Public Enemy to the jazz 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 Jandek. All the underground hits.
All Todd Terry tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Slackers 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a James Chance & The Contortions record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
X-Ray Spex,
Scion,
The Durutti Column,
Talk Talk,
Davy DMX,
LL Cool J,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Judy Mowatt,
The Human League,
Sonny Sharrock,
Joyce Sims,
Faust,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Rosa Yemen,
Tommy Roe,
David Axelrod,
One Last Wish,
Reuben Wilson,
Excepter,
Be Bop Deluxe,
L. Decosne,
Groovy Waters,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
The Litter,
Alphaville,
Albert Ayler,
The Zeros,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Brick,
Bobby Sherman,
The Young Rascals,
Wolf Eyes,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Todd Rundgren,
Slick Rick,
DJ Style,
June Days,
Heaven 17,
Black Moon,
Los Fastidios,
Dual Sessions,
Gastr Del Sol,
Shoche,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Traffic Nightmare,
Nirvana,
Aloha Tigers,
Radiopuhelimet,
Scientists,
Whodini,
Isaac Hayes,
Ituana,
Chris Corsano,
Eric Copeland,
Warren Ellis,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Fluxion,
Radio Birdman,
Bizarre Inc.,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
The Stooges, The Stooges, The Stooges, The Stooges.
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.