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 Bahrain and from Columbus.
But I was there.
I was there in 1980.
I was there at the first Cybotron show in Detroit.
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 1963 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in London and Bremen.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Calgary 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 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 Aloha Tigers to the jazz kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Section 25. All the underground hits.
All Interpol tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Trojans record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The United States of America record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Howard Jones,
Todd Terry,
Minor Threat,
Girls At Our Best!,
Ludus,
Brothers Johnson,
Johnny Clarke,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Easy Going,
Guru Guru,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Dark Day,
The Smoke,
The Alarm Clocks,
T. Rex,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
the Soft Cell,
Alison Limerick,
Stereo Dub,
the Bar-Kays,
The Mojo Men,
The Shadows of Knight,
Gil Scott Heron,
The Vogues,
Nirvana,
Desert Stars,
Shoche,
Sugar Minott,
Oblivians,
The Smiths,
Niagra,
Fear,
Khruangbin,
Chrome,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
8 Eyed Spy,
John Foxx,
Nils Olav,
The Standells,
Wasted Youth,
Roxette,
Warren Ellis,
Young Marble Giants,
Grandmaster Flash,
Second Layer,
ABBA,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Lalann,
Ornette Coleman,
EPMD,
The Fire Engines,
Peter & Gordon,
Yaz,
The Selecter,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
the Germs,
Bauhaus,
Barclay James Harvest,
Jandek,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Sixth Finger, Sixth Finger, Sixth Finger, Sixth Finger.
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.