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 Guinea-Bissau and from London.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Second Layer show in South London.
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 1965 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Houston and London.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manchester 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 harpsichord 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 In Retrospect to the electroclash 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 Pop Group. All the underground hits.
All OOIOO tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Misunderstood record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash 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 an arpeggiator and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Fugazi record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Suicide,
Slick Rick,
Jimmy McGriff,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Chris & Cosey,
Erasure,
Mary Jane Girls,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Pagans,
Nas,
Colin Newman,
Byron Stingily,
David McCallum,
H. Thieme,
Icehouse,
the Normal,
Erykah Badu,
The Cure,
Skaos,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Rapeman,
D'Angelo,
Sound Behaviour,
Alice Coltrane,
Albert Ayler,
Donny Hathaway,
The Gap Band,
Lyres,
Sandy B,
Kurtis Blow,
Procol Harum,
Electric Prunes,
ABBA,
KRS-One,
Gang Green,
Duran Duran,
Jandek,
Zapp,
Rekid,
Fad Gadget,
The Modern Lovers,
The Golliwogs,
Parry Music,
Piero Umiliani,
Funky Four + One,
AZ,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
One Last Wish,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Vladislav Delay,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Spoonie Gee,
the Fania All-Stars,
Connie Case,
Kas Product,
Radio Birdman,
Eric Copeland,
Bauhaus,
Fluxion,
Crooked Eye,
Sixth Finger,
Bobby Sherman, Bobby Sherman, Bobby Sherman, Bobby Sherman.
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.