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 Gabon and from Beijing.
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 1968 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Jakarta and Stockholm.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 1965 at the first Beefheart practice in a loft in Lancaster.
I was working on the linndrum 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 Bobby Byrd to the rock kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Spoonie Gee. All the underground hits.
All The United States of America tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Music Machine record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a 808 and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Wire record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Grandmaster Flash,
The Moody Blues,
Neu!,
Public Image Ltd.,
Unrelated Segments,
Anthony Braxton,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Ralphi Rosario,
Harpers Bizarre,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Connie Case,
Lindisfarne,
The Stooges,
Throbbing Gristle,
Pulsallama,
Second Layer,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Bobbi Humphrey,
The Dead C,
Stiv Bators,
Depeche Mode,
The Neon Judgement,
Glambeats Corp.,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Liliput,
Joensuu 1685,
Pantaleimon,
Black Flag,
Porter Ricks,
Vainqueur,
Young Marble Giants,
Duran Duran,
Arab on Radar,
Mad Mike,
Bobby Womack,
Brand Nubian,
Sandy B,
Ultimate Spinach,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
The Motions,
Funkadelic,
OOIOO,
Neil Young,
Heaven 17,
Symarip,
Gil Scott Heron,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Robert Wyatt,
Youth Brigade,
Rites of Spring,
Shoche,
Mark Hollis,
Bill Near,
Minnie Riperton,
Andrew Hill,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
The Vogues,
Bob Dylan,
Quantec,
Roxy Music,
Pere Ubu, Pere Ubu, Pere Ubu, Pere Ubu.
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.