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 Lesotho and from Hong Kong.
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 1966 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bologna and Salvador.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Hong Kong 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 1977 at the first Mistral practice in a loft in Amsterdam.
I was working on the clarinet 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 Leonard Cohen to the grime kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Birthday Party. All the underground hits.
All Oneida tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Althea and Donna 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 rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Rites of Spring record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Jacques Brel,
Bronski Beat,
Ronan,
the Normal,
Hashim,
Fela Kuti,
Skaos,
Nas,
Aural Exciters,
Clear Light,
Rhythm & Sound,
48th St. Collective,
Sandy B,
Crash Course in Science,
Con Funk Shun,
Hasil Adkins,
Rod Modell,
Pagans,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Marine Girls,
Andrew Hill,
The Monochrome Set,
Harmonia,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Yellowson,
Girls At Our Best!,
Trumans Water,
Los Fastidios,
Dark Day,
Blancmange,
The Velvet Underground,
Deepchord,
The Modern Lovers,
The Offenders,
Jerry's Kids,
DNA,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
The New Christs,
Ornette Coleman,
Jimmy McGriff,
Ronnie Foster,
Eli Mardock,
Faraquet,
Soul II Soul,
The Dave Clark Five,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Moby Grape,
Jeru the Damaja,
The Moleskins,
Harpers Bizarre,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Sister Nancy,
Bill Wells,
New Age Steppers,
Minutemen,
Y Pants,
Nik Kershaw,
Nico,
Roy Ayers, Roy Ayers, Roy Ayers, Roy Ayers.
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.