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 Lebanon and from Spokane.
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 1969 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Salvador and Lille.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Columbus 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 synthesizer 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 Angels of Light & Akron/Family to the techno kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 The Misunderstood. All the underground hits.
All Larry & the Blue Notes tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Divine Comedy 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Terry Callier record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
MC5,
Clear Light,
Deadbeat,
The Blackbyrds,
Todd Terry,
The Offenders,
Barrington Levy,
Jacques Brel,
Funky Four + One,
Sister Nancy,
Skaos,
Inner City,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Spoonie Gee,
Can,
Sixth Finger,
The Cure,
AZ,
Cluster,
The Durutti Column,
Fat Boys,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Whodini,
Bobby Byrd,
Motorama,
Radiopuhelimet,
Gabor Szabo,
Quando Quango,
Hasil Adkins,
Q65,
Grandmaster Flash,
Bobby Hutcherson,
The Seeds,
Minor Threat,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Crispy Ambulance,
Minny Pops,
Eddi Front,
Pagans,
The Busters,
The Modern Lovers,
Altered Images,
UT,
Nation of Ulysses,
Crispian St. Peters,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
D'Angelo,
Mars,
Byron Stingily,
Goldenarms,
Pet Shop Boys,
Index,
The Techniques,
Tommy Roe,
Amon Düül,
Icehouse,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Little Man,
Camouflage, Camouflage, Camouflage, Camouflage.
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.