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 Indonesia and from Woodstock.
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 1962 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Spokane and Seoul.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Johannesburg 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 1983 at the first Lewis practice in a loft in Vancouver.
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 Selector Dub Narcotic to the grime kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Ken Boothe. All the underground hits.
All Fela Kuti tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Kas Product record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap 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 sitar and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a John Foxx record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer 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 Five Americans,
Davy DMX,
Dennis Brown,
Gastr Del Sol,
The Slits,
X-Ray Spex,
Talk Talk,
Ponytail,
Albert Ayler,
Byron Stingily,
Tom Boy,
Goldenarms,
Hot Snakes,
B.T. Express,
The New Christs,
Easy Going,
Carl Craig,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Sonic Youth,
The American Breed,
The Birthday Party,
Chrome,
Donny Hathaway,
Bill Wells,
Amon Düül II,
Soft Machine,
Crooked Eye,
Minutemen,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Junior Murvin,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Tomorrow,
Absolute Body Control,
The Index,
Groovy Waters,
LL Cool J,
Gichy Dan,
James Chance & The Contortions,
The Gap Band,
David McCallum,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
The Electric Prunes,
Fear,
Mission of Burma,
Roger Hodgson,
the Soft Cell,
Parry Music,
Johnny Clarke,
Big Daddy Kane,
The Grass Roots,
Charles Mingus,
Kaleidoscope,
Barclay James Harvest,
The Modern Lovers,
Radiopuhelimet,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Funkadelic,
Negative Approach,
Grandmaster Flash,
Blake Baxter,
Accadde A,
Chris Corsano,
Steve Hackett,
Curtis Mayfield,
Tubeway Army, Tubeway Army, Tubeway Army, Tubeway Army.
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.