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 Niger 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 1968 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Seoul and Columbus.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Spokane 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 clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks to the funk 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 Gun Club. All the underground hits.
All L. Decosne tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Shuggie Otis record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance 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 marimba and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Vladislav Delay record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Flamin' Groovies,
Minutemen,
The Slackers,
Crime,
Gastr Del Sol,
Dave Gahan,
Rites of Spring,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Skriet,
Neu!,
Stiv Bators,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Terry Callier,
Soul II Soul,
The Names,
The Music Machine,
Smog,
the Germs,
Moebius,
Reuben Wilson,
Cluster,
Mark Hollis,
Agent Orange,
Charles Mingus,
Frankie Knuckles,
Althea and Donna,
Desert Stars,
The Evens,
Japan,
Derrick May,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Spoonie Gee,
Con Funk Shun,
Neil Young,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
The Dave Clark Five,
Tommy Roe,
Joy Division,
Easy Going,
Anthony Braxton,
David McCallum,
Bush Tetras,
Oblivians,
Malaria!,
The Durutti Column,
Skaos,
The Gap Band,
The Smoke,
The Cramps,
Girls At Our Best!,
Dark Day,
ABBA,
Thompson Twins,
Harry Pussy,
L. Decosne,
The Gladiators,
Eden Ahbez,
Eurythmics,
Porter Ricks,
Barrington Levy,
Aural Exciters,
Inner City, Inner City, Inner City, Inner City.
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.