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 Taiwan and from Hong Kong.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Soft Boys show in Cambridge.
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 1963 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lille and Salvador.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Philadelphia 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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the clarinet 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 Pierre Henry to the punk kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Laurel Aitken. All the underground hits.
All The Sisters of Mercy tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Nils Olav 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Neu! record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Offenders,
The Doors,
Siglo XX,
Flamin' Groovies,
The Angels of Light,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Von Mondo,
The Victims,
The Tremeloes,
The Smoke,
Sam Rivers,
AZ,
Intrusion,
Suburban Knight,
The Cure,
Leonard Cohen,
Danielle Patucci,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Joy Division,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Junior Murvin,
Mary Jane Girls,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Kerri Chandler,
Bronski Beat,
Eve St. Jones,
Au Pairs,
Motorama,
Iggy Pop,
Roxy Music,
Johnny Clarke,
Gerry Rafferty,
Babytalk,
Banda Bassotti,
Vainqueur,
These Immortal Souls,
Technova,
Cecil Taylor,
Robert Görl,
Scrapy,
Bauhaus,
Eric Copeland,
Piero Umiliani,
Fat Boys,
Black Moon,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Ituana,
Tommy Roe,
Black Sheep,
Ken Boothe,
The Cowsills,
Bobby Byrd,
Dorothy Ashby,
Crash Course in Science,
Jandek,
Thompson Twins,
Suicide,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
The Count Five, The Count Five, The Count Five, The Count Five.
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.