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 Cambodia and from Johannesburg.
But I was there.
I was there in 1962.
I was there at the first Guess Who show in Winnipeg.
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 1966 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Spokane and Beijing.
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 1975 at the first Ubu practice in a loft in Cleveland.
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 Alton Ellis 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 Be Bop Deluxe. All the underground hits.
All R.M.O. tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every E-Dancer record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a snare and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Nils Olav record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Jandek,
Shuggie Otis,
Wasted Youth,
The Fugs,
Ronan,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Eddi Front,
Soulsonic Force,
Ludus,
Sparks,
The Modern Lovers,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
The Slackers,
Freddie Wadling,
the Association,
Nik Kershaw,
Grey Daturas,
The Raincoats,
The Shadows of Knight,
Monks,
Ornette Coleman,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Don Cherry,
Derrick Morgan,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Cabaret Voltaire,
The Searchers,
The Smoke,
Electric Prunes,
Hoover,
Prince Buster,
Dawn Penn,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Schoolly D,
Aswad,
Ash Ra Tempel,
The Invisible,
the Swans,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Fugazi,
Subhumans,
R.M.O.,
Parry Music,
Neu!,
Agent Orange,
The Selecter,
Johnny Osbourne,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Brothers Johnson,
Toni Rubio,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
PIL,
Wally Richardson,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Harry Pussy,
Idris Muhammad,
Thee Headcoats,
The Martian,
Tom Boy,
Robert Görl, Robert Görl, Robert Görl, Robert Görl.
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.