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 Honduras and from Sao Paulo.
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 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Houston and Shanghai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Woodstock 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 1973 at the first Television practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the spring reverb 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 Colin Newman to the electroclash 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 John Cale. All the underground hits.
All Wasted Youth tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Babytalk 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 chamberlin and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a John Foxx record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Dave Clark Five,
Sandy B,
Ronnie Foster,
Grandmaster Flash,
Gang of Four,
U.S. Maple,
Howard Jones,
Bobby Byrd,
Byron Stingily,
Charles Mingus,
It's A Beautiful Day,
a-ha,
The Selecter,
Severed Heads,
The Smiths,
Nas,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Aural Exciters,
Lyres,
Young Marble Giants,
The Music Machine,
Robert Görl,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Index,
James White and The Blacks,
Mr. Review,
The Martian,
Bob Dylan,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Saccharine Trust,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Bush Tetras,
10cc,
Ossler,
48th St. Collective,
New York Dolls,
Ornette Coleman,
Susan Cadogan,
Negative Approach,
Joy Division,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Drexciya,
Sexual Harrassment,
Icehouse,
the Germs,
Circle Jerks,
Marmalade,
Joey Negro,
Funky Four + One,
Duran Duran,
Surgeon,
Anakelly,
Johnny Clarke,
Mandrill,
Monks,
Funkadelic,
Ultravox,
Leonard Cohen,
Procol Harum,
Althea and Donna,
Zero Boys,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Alison Limerick, Alison Limerick, Alison Limerick, Alison Limerick.
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.