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 Lagos.
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 1967 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Houston and Philadelphia.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Cairo 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 spring reverb 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 The Smiths to the grunge 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 Accadde A. All the underground hits.
All OOIOO tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Bootsy Collins record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk 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 oboe and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Colin Newman record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Minutemen,
Man Eating Sloth,
Robert Hood,
Anthony Braxton,
David Bowie,
Skarface,
Roxette,
Nick Fraelich,
Stockholm Monsters,
Pussy Galore,
Pantytec,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Soul II Soul,
The Neon Judgement,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Silicon Teens,
Jerry's Kids,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Cymande,
Alphaville,
The Last Poets,
Second Layer,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Severed Heads,
Hashim,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Aswad,
The Moody Blues,
The Gories,
Rotary Connection,
Rosa Yemen,
The Zeros,
Roger Hodgson,
Nils Olav,
The Birthday Party,
The Motions,
Agent Orange,
Dennis Brown,
Camouflage,
The Blues Magoos,
Tropical Tobacco,
Kool Moe Dee,
Newcleus,
The Pop Group,
Unrelated Segments,
June Days,
Stiv Bators,
UT,
Leonard Cohen,
Massinfluence,
Glambeats Corp.,
Reuben Wilson,
Zapp,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
OOIOO,
Lakeside,
Kaleidoscope,
June of 44,
Theoretical Girls,
Donny Hathaway,
Soft Cell, Soft Cell, Soft Cell, Soft Cell.
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.