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 Uruguay and from Seoul.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Buzzcocks show in Bolton.
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 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Philadelphia and Lyon.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Tehran 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 1975 at the first Ubu practice in a loft in Cleveland.
I was working on the clarinet 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 Agitation Free 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 Royal Trux. All the underground hits.
All Oppenheimer Analysis tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Funkadelic record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Freddie Wadling record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Pretty Things,
Jeff Mills,
Sun Ra,
cv313,
Bronski Beat,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Animal Collective,
Alison Limerick,
Sarah Menescal,
June Days,
Delta 5,
Ice-T,
Ultimate Spinach,
Adolescents,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Robert Görl,
The Divine Comedy,
Cymande,
Smog,
Moebius,
Curtis Mayfield,
KRS-One,
Davy DMX,
Country Joe & The Fish,
A Certain Ratio,
The American Breed,
David McCallum,
The Fall,
Bobby Byrd,
The Leaves,
Ludus,
The Zeros,
Skaos,
Eric B and Rakim,
Black Bananas,
The Dave Clark Five,
Kerri Chandler,
Steve Hackett,
Kevin Saunderson,
Gichy Dan,
Pylon,
The Gun Club,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Drive Like Jehu,
Severed Heads,
Scan 7,
Pole,
Frankie Knuckles,
Radiopuhelimet,
Grandmaster Flash,
The Invisible,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Eli Mardock,
The Misunderstood,
Basic Channel,
Nirvana,
Wire,
Roxette,
Rosa Yemen,
Crime,
Jesper Dahlback,
Quadrant, Quadrant, Quadrant, Quadrant.
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.