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 Morocco and from Shanghai.
But I was there.
I was there in 1962.
I was there at the first Guess Who show in Winnipeg.
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 1969 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lille and Woodstock.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Mumbai 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 1975 at the first Ubu practice in a loft in Cleveland.
I was working on the organ 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 a-ha to the jazz kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Seeds. All the underground hits.
All the Sonics tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Evens record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a JFA record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Johnny Clarke,
The Fortunes,
Reagan Youth,
Stockholm Monsters,
The Sound,
Siglo XX,
Y Pants,
Yusef Lateef,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Girls At Our Best!,
Archie Shepp,
Hasil Adkins,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Minutemen,
Eve St. Jones,
Skriet,
Electric Prunes,
Bob Dylan,
Accadde A,
Al Stewart,
Porter Ricks,
The Skatalites,
Silicon Teens,
Flipper,
Index,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Television,
Henry Cow,
Nico,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Chrome,
ABBA,
Thee Headcoats,
The Techniques,
Jawbox,
The Toasters,
Graham Central Station,
Lyres,
Eric Dolphy,
The Electric Prunes,
Isaac Hayes,
X-102,
Jandek,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Von Mondo,
Glenn Branca,
Rhythm & Sound,
The Fire Engines,
The New Christs,
Little Man,
The United States of America,
Television Personalities,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Niagra,
A Certain Ratio,
Piero Umiliani,
Gang Starr,
The Zeros,
Patti Smith, Patti Smith, Patti Smith, Patti Smith.
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.