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 Fiji and from Portland.
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 1966 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Shanghai and Madrid.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Tokyo 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 1962 at the first Guess Who practice in a loft in Winnipeg.
I was working on the theremin sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Eric Dolphy to the grime 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 Eden Ahbez. All the underground hits.
All Eric Copeland tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Rotary Connection 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Fire Engines record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Jimmy McGriff,
Cal Tjader,
Judy Mowatt,
Avey Tare,
Toni Rubio,
E-Dancer,
Warsaw,
Delta 5,
Swans,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Tommy Roe,
Animal Collective,
Kool Moe Dee,
Sandy B,
Barry Ungar,
The Mummies,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Index,
Marmalade,
Saccharine Trust,
Masters at Work,
The Last Poets,
Warren Ellis,
LL Cool J,
The Slackers,
Cybotron,
Joy Division,
Lalo Schifrin,
Royal Trux,
Delon & Dalcan,
Gong,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Marvin Gaye,
The Fire Engines,
Man Parrish,
Skriet,
The Birthday Party,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
The Motions,
Nation of Ulysses,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Echospace,
Bill Near,
Los Fastidios,
Josef K,
Mo-Dettes,
Rufus Thomas,
Gang Starr,
The Knickerbockers,
Dawn Penn,
Iggy Pop,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
The Doors,
The Happenings,
It's A Beautiful Day,
David Bowie,
Stockholm Monsters,
The Buckinghams,
Surgeon,
Aswad,
Angry Samoans, Angry Samoans, Angry Samoans, Angry Samoans.
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.