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 Syria 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 1968 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Bologna.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Stockholm 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 Human League practice in a loft in Sheffield.
I was working on the guitar 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 Neil Young to the crunk 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 Victims. All the underground hits.
All Prince Buster tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a chamberlin 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 oboe and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Reagan Youth,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Eric Copeland,
Sun City Girls,
Suburban Knight,
Lou Reed,
Nirvana,
Stereo Dub,
Oblivians,
Byron Stingily,
B.T. Express,
Donald Byrd,
David McCallum,
Saccharine Trust,
Scratch Acid,
The Zeros,
Clear Light,
Chris & Cosey,
Technova,
Toni Rubio,
Jandek,
The Blues Magoos,
Aswad,
The Detroit Cobras,
Wally Richardson,
the Association,
Nils Olav,
Black Sheep,
Sexual Harrassment,
The Neon Judgement,
Bobbi Humphrey,
LL Cool J,
Anthony Braxton,
World's Most,
Can,
Adolescents,
Kerri Chandler,
Hasil Adkins,
Y Pants,
Tim Buckley,
Arcadia,
Bizarre Inc.,
Traffic Nightmare,
Silicon Teens,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Erasure,
Television,
Derrick May,
The Fire Engines,
Gang of Four,
Robert Hood,
Lou Christie,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Ralphi Rosario,
The Litter,
The Names,
The Last Poets,
Loose Ends,
The Trojans,
Moebius,
Echospace,
Jimmy McGriff,
Maleditus Sound,
Qualms, Qualms, Qualms, Qualms.
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.