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 Korea North and from Philadelphia.
But I was there.
I was there in 1983.
I was there at the first Lewis show in Vancouver.
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 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Sao Paulo and Tehran.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Houston 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 1973 at the first Television practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the clarinet 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 Qualms to the funk kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 The Gladiators. All the underground hits.
All Aaron Thompson tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Joensuu 1685 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 '90s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a the Swans record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Black Moon,
The Slackers,
Eddi Front,
Excepter,
The Vogues,
The Raincoats,
Kayak,
Lyres,
Easy Going,
Funky Four + One,
The Golliwogs,
Harmonia,
FM Einheit,
Tears for Fears,
Sarah Menescal,
The Happenings,
Yellowson,
Cybotron,
Patti Smith,
David McCallum,
Loose Ends,
The Busters,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Procol Harum,
Lou Reed,
Mission of Burma,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
the Fania All-Stars,
Soulsonic Force,
New Age Steppers,
Bobby Sherman,
The Angels of Light,
Stockholm Monsters,
Marcia Griffiths,
Morten Harket,
Sexual Harrassment,
Metal Thangz,
Derrick May,
Reagan Youth,
Zapp,
Ituana,
The Saints,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
The Evens,
Marvin Gaye,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Suicide,
Ice-T,
Susan Cadogan,
Arab on Radar,
Harpers Bizarre,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Godley & Creme,
Pantytec,
Theoretical Girls,
Jandek,
Interpol,
Lightning Bolt,
Absolute Body Control,
Television Personalities,
Aswad,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Amon Düül II, Amon Düül II, Amon Düül II, Amon Düül II.
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.