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 St Lucia and from Johannesburg.
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 1968 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manila and Philadelphia.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Stockholm 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 1967 at the first Rodriguez practice in a loft in Detroit.
I was working on the guitar 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 Nick Fraelich to the funk 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 Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan. All the underground hits.
All Kerri Chandler tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Shoche record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Sonic Youth record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Babytalk,
The Fugs,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Panda Bear,
Moss Icon,
H. Thieme,
Chris Corsano,
Jacques Brel,
Nik Kershaw,
Crispian St. Peters,
In Retrospect,
The Blackbyrds,
Arthur Verocai,
Flash Fearless,
Derrick May,
Model 500,
The Pop Group,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Alphaville,
The Real Kids,
Dorothy Ashby,
Scratch Acid,
Girls At Our Best!,
David McCallum,
DJ Sneak,
Nico,
Charles Mingus,
Neu!,
Nils Olav,
Harmonia,
Skarface,
The Vogues,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
cv313,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Colin Newman,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Godley & Creme,
the Association,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Piero Umiliani,
The Kinks,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Y Pants,
Organ,
Technova,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
The Star Department,
The Beau Brummels,
Bill Wells,
8 Eyed Spy,
Quantec,
Altered Images,
Tears for Fears,
Adolescents,
U.S. Maple,
The New Christs,
Sixth Finger,
Dual Sessions,
Monolake,
the Swans,
Lindisfarne, Lindisfarne, Lindisfarne, Lindisfarne.
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.