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 Tanzania and from Toronto.
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 1961 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lille and Bremen.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Cairo 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 1987 at the first Nirvana practice in a loft in Seattle.
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 Banda Bassotti to the rap kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Gories. All the underground hits.
All Oblivians tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Ajijia Myrayebe 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 '90s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Hasil Adkins record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Invisible,
The Birthday Party,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Livin' Joy,
Fela Kuti,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
the Fania All-Stars,
Harpers Bizarre,
Faraquet,
Yazoo,
Harmonia,
Faust,
Gerry Rafferty,
Fat Boys,
Niagra,
Hardrive,
Skriet,
Pharoah Sanders,
Boredoms,
Oneida,
The Detroit Cobras,
Sun City Girls,
OOIOO,
Bang On A Can,
Big Daddy Kane,
Kevin Saunderson,
Brick,
Wolf Eyes,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Wally Richardson,
The Seeds,
Royal Trux,
Bobby Sherman,
Be Bop Deluxe,
The Misunderstood,
CMW,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Dorothy Ashby,
Chrome,
The Names,
Saccharine Trust,
Sällskapet,
H. Thieme,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Black Sheep,
Crispian St. Peters,
the Normal,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Skaos,
David Axelrod,
Visage,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
The Gap Band,
The Fortunes,
MDC,
Mission of Burma,
Intrusion,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Second Layer,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Brass Construction,
Grandmaster Flash,
Judy Mowatt,
The Slits,
Rosa Yemen, Rosa Yemen, Rosa Yemen, Rosa Yemen.
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.