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 Jamaica and from London.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Soft Boys show in Cambridge.
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 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in London and Delhi.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Houston 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 sitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu to the grunge kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Patti Smith. All the underground hits.
All Man Parrish tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Eyeless In Gaza 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Cecil Taylor record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe 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 Normal,
The Wake,
Newcleus,
Monks,
The Flesh Eaters,
Donald Byrd,
Prince Buster,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Anthony Braxton,
Kayak,
The Cowsills,
Jandek,
Quadrant,
Funkadelic,
Wire,
OOIOO,
Duran Duran,
X-102,
The Doors,
Excepter,
The Divine Comedy,
The Modern Lovers,
Inner City,
Patti Smith,
In Retrospect,
Magazine,
10cc,
Terry Callier,
Heaven 17,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Fugazi,
Ultravox,
Anakelly,
Pharoah Sanders,
The Fugs,
Barry Ungar,
Sparks,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
The Kinks,
Ice-T,
the Association,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Max Romeo,
Hardrive,
Joyce Sims,
James White and The Blacks,
Little Man,
Ultimate Spinach,
Marmalade,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Black Bananas,
Scan 7,
Goldenarms,
New York Dolls,
Juan Atkins,
Joensuu 1685,
Idris Muhammad,
Minutemen,
Pet Shop Boys,
B.T. Express,
Warsaw, Warsaw, Warsaw, Warsaw.
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.