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 Kuwait and from Salvador.
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 1960 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Madrid and Mumbai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 1971 at the first Selda practice in a loft in Istanbul.
I was working on the arpeggiator 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 The Pretty Things to the rock kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Mummies. All the underground hits.
All Ohio Players tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every New York Dolls record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a snare and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Blake Baxter 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?
X-Ray Spex,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Anthony Braxton,
Grey Daturas,
The Sound,
Pantaleimon,
The Gories,
Bad Manners,
The American Breed,
Byron Stingily,
The Dead C,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Ossler,
A Certain Ratio,
Pulsallama,
Magazine,
The Pop Group,
Wasted Youth,
Rotary Connection,
Shuggie Otis,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
The Sonics,
The Skatalites,
Don Cherry,
the Slits,
D'Angelo,
Second Layer,
Crispy Ambulance,
Jeff Mills,
Bauhaus,
Nils Olav,
The Techniques,
Harpers Bizarre,
The Invisible,
Maurizio,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
the Swans,
The Gun Club,
Marmalade,
Aloha Tigers,
Arab on Radar,
Girls At Our Best!,
a-ha,
Grandmaster Flash,
The Count Five,
Symarip,
Sugar Minott,
Gastr Del Sol,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Nico,
John Lydon,
Barrington Levy,
Eli Mardock,
China Crisis,
Suburban Knight,
Rites of Spring,
Spoonie Gee,
Sonic Youth,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Excepter, Excepter, Excepter, Excepter.
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.