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 Indonesia and from Lyon.
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 1960 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in London and Glasgow.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Stockholm 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 1987 at the first Nirvana practice in a loft in Seattle.
I was working on the arpeggiator 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 Sister Nancy to the punk 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 Alton Ellis. All the underground hits.
All Ralphi Rosario tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Jeru the Damaja record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge 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 snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Fela Kuti record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Motions,
Delta 5,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Marcia Griffiths,
the Fania All-Stars,
Banda Bassotti,
Erykah Badu,
Amazonics,
Newcleus,
Rekid,
Sparks,
Cheater Slicks,
Fear,
Japan,
L. Decosne,
Bauhaus,
Kurtis Blow,
Flash Fearless,
Magma,
Jeru the Damaja,
Ultra Naté,
Dual Sessions,
The Trojans,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Matthew Halsall,
Anthony Braxton,
Grey Daturas,
Lou Reed,
Donald Byrd,
The Misunderstood,
The Durutti Column,
the Slits,
Fad Gadget,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Zapp,
Country Joe & The Fish,
The Blues Magoos,
Brand Nubian,
Jacques Brel,
Inner City,
Tropical Tobacco,
June of 44,
Crispian St. Peters,
Nation of Ulysses,
Goldenarms,
Brick,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Anakelly,
Bizarre Inc.,
Lee Hazlewood,
The Residents,
John Lydon,
Barbara Tucker,
Aloha Tigers,
Technova,
The Birthday Party,
Peter & Gordon,
The Invisible,
Letta Mbulu,
Blake Baxter, Blake Baxter, Blake Baxter, Blake Baxter.
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.