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 South Africa and from Hong Kong.
But I was there.
I was there in 1987.
I was there at the first Nirvana show in Seattle.
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 1963 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Portland and Tokyo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Johannesburg 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 1975 at the first Ubu practice in a loft in Cleveland.
I was working on the mellotron 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 Bad Manners to the disco kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Alarm Clocks. All the underground hits.
All Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every La Düsseldorf record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a mellotron and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Bang on a Can All-Stars record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Fad Gadget,
Kevin Saunderson,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Big Daddy Kane,
Skarface,
Camberwell Now,
Royal Trux,
Terrestrial Tones,
Flamin' Groovies,
Joensuu 1685,
Avey Tare,
Slick Rick,
Alphaville,
The Electric Prunes,
Nas,
Aaron Thompson,
H. Thieme,
The Martian,
Moss Icon,
John Cale,
Index,
Radiohead,
the Swans,
Public Image Ltd.,
Spandau Ballet,
Fugazi,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
OOIOO,
Whodini,
Blossom Toes,
Black Flag,
Byron Stingily,
Model 500,
Dorothy Ashby,
Crash Course in Science,
Clear Light,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
the Human League,
Cheater Slicks,
The Raincoats,
Rod Modell,
Gang Starr,
Nico,
Simply Red,
Alison Limerick,
David McCallum,
Q65,
Blake Baxter,
Gang Green,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Magma,
Moebius,
Crispian St. Peters,
Mad Mike,
Scott Walker,
Hardrive,
Curtis Mayfield,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Subhumans,
Thee Headcoats,
The Smiths,
X-101, X-101, X-101, X-101.
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.