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 Kenya and from Beijing.
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 1963 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Toronto and London.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 Wire practice in a loft in Watford.
I was working on the theremin 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 KRS-One to the rap kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Searchers. All the underground hits.
All Pussy Galore tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Procol Harum 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a chamberlin and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Blackbyrds record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Eric Copeland,
Ken Boothe,
Idris Muhammad,
Chrome,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Jerry's Kids,
Pagans,
Delon & Dalcan,
Ohio Players,
Fela Kuti,
These Immortal Souls,
In Retrospect,
Letta Mbulu,
Bad Manners,
Kerrie Biddell,
X-101,
This Heat,
The Happenings,
The Gap Band,
Animal Collective,
the Slits,
Monolake,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Ludus,
Gil Scott Heron,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Television,
Eddi Front,
Lebanon Hanover,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Sound Behaviour,
Reuben Wilson,
Zero Boys,
Tropical Tobacco,
Barclay James Harvest,
Piero Umiliani,
Black Pus,
Joy Division,
The Doobie Brothers,
Rufus Thomas,
Tubeway Army,
John Lydon,
Scientists,
Adolescents,
The Sonics,
Camron Feat. Jay Z And Juelz,
Lower 48,
Soul II Soul,
Vladislav Delay,
The Doors,
Traffic Nightmare,
MC5,
Pharoah Sanders,
Patti Smith,
Tim Buckley,
Laurel Aitken,
The Techniques,
Harry Pussy,
Vainqueur,
Nirvana,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Bill Near, Bill Near, Bill Near, Bill Near.
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.