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 Ghana 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 1962 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Calgary and Winnipeg.
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 1987 at the first Nirvana practice in a loft in Seattle.
I was working on the snare sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Liaisons Dangereuses to the dance 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 La Düsseldorf. All the underground hits.
All Minutemen tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Eric B and Rakim record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz 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 808 and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Avey Tare record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Index,
The Detroit Cobras,
Sound Behaviour,
Electric Prunes,
Hot Snakes,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
The Busters,
Ornette Coleman,
Con Funk Shun,
Warren Ellis,
Porter Ricks,
The Last Poets,
The Happenings,
Mr. Review,
Young Marble Giants,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
DJ Style,
The Slackers,
X-102,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Kaleidoscope,
Skarface,
Eric B and Rakim,
Aural Exciters,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Heaven 17,
Main Source,
Joyce Sims,
JFA,
Khruangbin,
Peter and Kerry,
The Pop Group,
X-Ray Spex,
The New Christs,
The Fortunes,
Sixth Finger,
Jeff Lynne,
Andrew Hill,
Wolf Eyes,
Shuggie Otis,
U.S. Maple,
June of 44,
The American Breed,
Suburban Knight,
Bad Manners,
the Slits,
Lightning Bolt,
Lyres,
ABBA,
Nas,
The Tremeloes,
The Red Krayola,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Ossler,
Soft Cell,
Mantronix,
Tom Boy,
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.