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 Sudan and from Bremen.
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 1967 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Taipei and Shanghai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Copenhagen 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 Soft Boys practice in a loft in Cambridge.
I was working on the 808 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 Nirvana to the jazz kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Panda Bear. All the underground hits.
All The Kinks tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every the Slits record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash 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 marimba and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Bauhaus record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Saints,
Bronski Beat,
Mad Mike,
The Standells,
Sun City Girls,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Nils Olav,
Andrew Hill,
Nico,
LL Cool J,
Pussy Galore,
Girls At Our Best!,
Quadrant,
Charles Mingus,
Junior Murvin,
JFA,
Terry Callier,
the Soft Cell,
Sparks,
Roxy Music,
Neil Young,
Pere Ubu,
Lou Reed,
Television,
Mission of Burma,
Monks,
Reuben Wilson,
the Slits,
The Searchers,
Pantaleimon,
The Pretty Things,
Man Parrish,
Soft Machine,
The Litter,
Alice Coltrane,
Cybotron,
Bobby Byrd,
the Fania All-Stars,
EPMD,
Tommy Roe,
H. Thieme,
Animal Collective,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Dorothy Ashby,
Boogie Down Productions,
The Birthday Party,
In Retrospect,
Flipper,
Adolescents,
Alison Limerick,
Gregory Isaacs,
Crime,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Brass Construction,
The Shadows of Knight,
Harry Pussy,
Guru Guru,
Aural Exciters,
Grauzone,
Amazonics,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
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.