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 Benin 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 1964 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tehran and Sao Paulo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Sao Paulo 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 1984 at the first Arcadia practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the theremin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Bang On A Can to the punk kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Wolf Eyes. All the underground hits.
All Donald Byrd tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Siouxsie and the Banshees 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Albert Ayler record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
the Normal,
Slave,
Leonard Cohen,
Gang Gang Dance,
New Age Steppers,
Deakin,
Arcadia,
Arab on Radar,
Joe Finger,
Japan,
Livin' Joy,
Scientists,
Neil Young,
Rhythm & Sound,
Echospace,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Skriet,
The Zeros,
Marmalade,
The Fortunes,
Scratch Acid,
Brand Nubian,
Ohio Players,
Deepchord,
Malaria!,
Kaleidoscope,
Symarip,
The Monks,
Oblivians,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Sonny Sharrock,
Simply Red,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Aloha Tigers,
The Victims,
Royal Trux,
48th St. Collective,
Stetsasonic,
Jeff Lynne,
The Detroit Cobras,
Donny Hathaway,
Roy Ayers,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
the Fania All-Stars,
Q and Not U,
Pierre Henry,
Pere Ubu,
Lalo Schifrin,
Idris Muhammad,
Young Marble Giants,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Smog,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
The Happenings,
Mars,
Archie Shepp,
Max Romeo,
Lou Reed, Lou Reed, Lou Reed, Lou Reed.
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.