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 Uganda and from Milan.
But I was there.
I was there in 2001.
I was there at the first Tiga show in Montreal.
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 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manila and Taipei.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 1965 at the first Beefheart practice in a loft in Lancaster.
I was working on the rhodes 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 Iggy Pop to the rap kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Public Enemy. All the underground hits.
All Lizzy Mercier Descloux tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Lebanon Hanover record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Mark Hollis record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Names,
Mary Jane Girls,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Babytalk,
Sugar Minott,
Audionom,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Stereo Dub,
The Last Poets,
Mr. Review,
David McCallum,
Peter & Gordon,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Chris & Cosey,
Porter Ricks,
The Offenders,
Swans,
Barbara Tucker,
The Leaves,
Erasure,
The Divine Comedy,
Yaz,
The J.B.'s,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Bush Tetras,
Blake Baxter,
Sandy B,
Malaria!,
Faust,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Eurythmics,
Anakelly,
Desert Stars,
Gang of Four,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Ralphi Rosario,
Morten Harket,
Silicon Teens,
Television Personalities,
The Fuzztones,
Kayak,
The Flesh Eaters,
Mark Hollis,
Glenn Branca,
Radiohead,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
Joensuu 1685,
UT,
Freddie Wadling,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Fluxion,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Japan,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Flipper,
Unwound,
Deadbeat,
Intrusion,
Robert Hood,
Rufus Thomas,
the Swans, the Swans, the Swans, the Swans.
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.