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 Guinea-Bissau and from Mumbai.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Big Star show in Memphis.
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 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Hong Kong.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Edmonton 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 2001 at the first Tiga practice in a loft in Montreal.
I was working on the oboe 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 Colin Newman to the grunge 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 Fat Boys. All the underground hits.
All Desert Stars tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every T.S.O.L. record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a rhodes and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a David McCallum record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
John Cale,
The Tremeloes,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
David McCallum,
Spandau Ballet,
Soulsonic Force,
The Evens,
Arcadia,
Sam Rivers,
the Germs,
The Trojans,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Bill Near,
Joyce Sims,
the Swans,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Eden Ahbez,
Warren Ellis,
Sandy B,
Pharoah Sanders,
Young Marble Giants,
Excepter,
Marshall Jefferson,
The Fuzztones,
Blossom Toes,
New York Dolls,
Tropical Tobacco,
Black Sheep,
The Smoke,
Bauhaus,
Sixth Finger,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Rod Modell,
Zapp,
The Walker Brothers,
Aural Exciters,
Amon Düül,
Vainqueur,
The Misunderstood,
Jandek,
Quadrant,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Intrusion,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Severed Heads,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
The Sound,
Kas Product,
Michelle Simonal,
Pussy Galore,
UT,
Gil Scott Heron,
Black Bananas,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
the Normal,
Arthur Verocai,
Maleditus Sound,
The Beau Brummels,
Lou Christie,
Swans, Swans, Swans, Swans.
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.