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 Croatia and from Milan.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Josef K show in Edinburgh.
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 1964 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Johannesburg and Portland.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Mumbai 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 1976 at the first Feelies practice in a loft in Haledon.
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 The Skatalites to the crunk 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 David Bowie. All the underground hits.
All Cheater Slicks tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Young Marble Giants 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Glenn Branca record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
James White and The Blacks,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Mission of Burma,
Nirvana,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Bobby Womack,
Mr. Review,
Sixth Finger,
Interpol,
Gang Starr,
FM Einheit,
Saccharine Trust,
DJ Style,
the Normal,
Radiohead,
the Soft Cell,
Grey Daturas,
Gang Gang Dance,
Mary Jane Girls,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Pulsallama,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Negative Approach,
Kurtis Blow,
Essential Logic,
Yellowson,
The Saints,
Johnny Osbourne,
Whodini,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
The Toasters,
Panda Bear,
Eddi Front,
Skaos,
Anthony Braxton,
Schoolly D,
Joensuu 1685,
Dorothy Ashby,
Barbara Tucker,
Black Flag,
John Lydon,
Quantec,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
AZ,
Crash Course in Science,
Drexciya,
The Moleskins,
Hoover,
Piero Umiliani,
The Mummies,
David McCallum,
The Count Five,
Cybotron,
Model 500,
Iggy Pop,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Sexual Harrassment,
John Holt,
Hot Snakes, Hot Snakes, Hot Snakes, Hot Snakes.
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.