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 Namibia and from Lagos.
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 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tokyo and Manila.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Philadelphia 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 2001 at the first Tiga practice in a loft in Montreal.
I was working on the snare sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 In Retrospect to the grunge kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Public Enemy. All the underground hits.
All Gastr Del Sol tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Monks record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Surgeon record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Man Eating Sloth,
Ice-T,
Ultimate Spinach,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Grauzone,
Prince Buster,
Harry Pussy,
Gerry Rafferty,
Howard Jones,
The Last Poets,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
The American Breed,
Jesper Dahlback,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Pierre Henry,
Lalo Schifrin,
Nick Fraelich,
Soul II Soul,
The Tremeloes,
Derrick May,
EPMD,
Roy Ayers,
June of 44,
The Golliwogs,
The Index,
Minor Threat,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
the Germs,
Quando Quango,
New Age Steppers,
Schoolly D,
Gabor Szabo,
China Crisis,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Bluetip,
The Divine Comedy,
Infiniti,
Wire,
The Electric Prunes,
Chris & Cosey,
Reagan Youth,
Roger Hodgson,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Warsaw,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Crispian St. Peters,
Faust,
The Slackers,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Silicon Teens,
Terry Callier,
The Fuzztones,
Pantytec,
The Human League,
H. Thieme,
David Bowie,
Grandmaster Flash,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Black Bananas,
Gil Scott Heron,
Joe Finger,
Camouflage, Camouflage, Camouflage, Camouflage.
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.