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 Moldova and from Copenhagen.
But I was there.
I was there in 1965.
I was there at the first Beefheart show in Lancaster.
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 1961 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Halifax and Taipei.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Cairo 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 1984 at the first Arcadia practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the sitar 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 Heaven 17 to the techno kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Red Krayola. All the underground hits.
All Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Albert Ayler record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Bang On A Can record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Lebanon Hanover,
Bill Wells,
Surgeon,
Scratch Acid,
Marvin Gaye,
Nation of Ulysses,
Quadrant,
The Buckinghams,
Country Teasers,
Smog,
the Soft Cell,
The Blues Magoos,
Flamin' Groovies,
U.S. Maple,
Sandy B,
Infiniti,
Vladislav Delay,
Gang Gang Dance,
Aaron Thompson,
John Holt,
Underground Resistance,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Bauhaus,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Grey Daturas,
Stockholm Monsters,
Malaria!,
Pierre Henry,
Mad Mike,
Kerrie Biddell,
The Beau Brummels,
Slave,
Au Pairs,
Second Layer,
Nas,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Pussy Galore,
Niagra,
Rapeman,
Bobby Byrd,
Dennis Brown,
Easy Going,
Sixth Finger,
Jawbox,
The Modern Lovers,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Delta 5,
Isaac Hayes,
Unrelated Segments,
Nils Olav,
Negative Approach,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Man Eating Sloth,
Schoolly D,
Matthew Bourne,
Roy Ayers,
Tom Boy,
Das Ding,
The Sonics,
Kayak,
Letta Mbulu,
Warren Ellis,
Glenn Branca, Glenn Branca, Glenn Branca, Glenn Branca.
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.