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 Austria and from Stockholm.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Feelies show in Haledon.
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 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Columbus and Shanghai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Toronto 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 theremin 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 Magazine to the punk kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Surgeon. All the underground hits.
All China Crisis tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash 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 an arpeggiator and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Alison Limerick record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Ronnie Foster,
the Association,
Radiohead,
Chris & Cosey,
Jacques Brel,
Skaos,
Sun Ra,
Gang Green,
Soft Machine,
Whodini,
Shoche,
The Fortunes,
Fifty Foot Hose,
KRS-One,
Loose Ends,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Patti Smith,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Swans,
MDC,
Circle Jerks,
The Young Rascals,
ABBA,
Alphaville,
Guru Guru,
Adolescents,
Ultra Naté,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Skriet,
Soulsonic Force,
Sonic Youth,
Organ,
Gong,
Gastr Del Sol,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Audionom,
Subhumans,
The Slits,
Moss Icon,
Susan Cadogan,
Yusef Lateef,
Man Eating Sloth,
The Angels of Light,
The Golliwogs,
Peter & Gordon,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Jandek,
Bobbi Humphrey,
The Smiths,
Deadbeat,
K-Klass,
Unwound,
Fat Boys,
The Music Machine,
10cc,
EPMD,
Schoolly D,
Bang On A Can,
Los Fastidios, Los Fastidios, Los Fastidios, Los Fastidios.
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.