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 Laos and from Portland.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Wire show in Watford.
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 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tokyo and Taipei.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Bologna 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 güiro 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 Anthony Braxton to the grunge kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Jesus and Mary Chain. All the underground hits.
All This Heat tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Amazonics record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap 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 sitar and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Joe Smooth record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Ponytail,
Kerri Chandler,
Fifty Foot Hose,
The Motions,
Donald Byrd,
Joy Division,
The Young Rascals,
Curtis Mayfield,
Ludus,
Tears for Fears,
Organ,
Robert Hood,
Make Up,
Bobby Sherman,
Duran Duran,
Suburban Knight,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Godley & Creme,
Glambeats Corp.,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Barrington Levy,
Country Teasers,
MDC,
Marc Almond,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Warren Ellis,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
The Real Kids,
The Fortunes,
Urselle,
The Blackbyrds,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Dark Day,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
The Barracudas,
The Trojans,
Wasted Youth,
Anthony Braxton,
Colin Newman,
the Soft Cell,
Sarah Menescal,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
The Pop Group,
ABBA,
Icehouse,
Roger Hodgson,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Slave,
Throbbing Gristle,
Graham Central Station,
Livin' Joy,
Girls At Our Best!,
Young Marble Giants,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Average White Band,
Sun Ra,
Pagans,
Nation of Ulysses,
Ronan,
Kenny Larkin, Kenny Larkin, Kenny Larkin, Kenny Larkin.
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.