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 Thailand and from Toronto.
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 1966 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in New York and Portland.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Houston 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 1984 at the first Arcadia practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the organ sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Fugazi to the crunk kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Hardrive. All the underground hits.
All Oppenheimer Analysis tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Bill Near record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Names record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Depeche Mode,
Chris Corsano,
Skaos,
Underground Resistance,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Rotary Connection,
The Golliwogs,
Nas,
Godley & Creme,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Marvin Gaye,
Frankie Knuckles,
The Martian,
Don Cherry,
Moebius,
Lee Hazlewood,
The Kinks,
Terrestrial Tones,
Pierre Henry,
Marmalade,
Q65,
Josef K,
Second Layer,
The Young Rascals,
Severed Heads,
Popol Vuh,
Altered Images,
Drive Like Jehu,
Ultravox,
Junior Murvin,
Brick,
Public Image Ltd.,
Simply Red,
The Gap Band,
Patti Smith,
Crime,
Pagans,
New York Dolls,
Fad Gadget,
The Names,
Cluster,
Heaven 17,
The Toasters,
Aural Exciters,
Gang of Four,
Cal Tjader,
Sixth Finger,
Carl Craig,
UT,
Isaac Hayes,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Aloha Tigers,
Johnny Clarke,
Blake Baxter,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
The Grass Roots,
Henry Cow,
Jeru the Damaja,
Ronnie Foster,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
The Smiths, The Smiths, The Smiths, The Smiths.
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.