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 Chile and from Glasgow.
But I was there.
I was there in 1967.
I was there at the first Rodriguez 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 1964 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lyon and Copenhagen.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Columbus 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 Lou Reed 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 Cabaret Voltaire to the rap kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Young Rascals. All the underground hits.
All Harpers Bizarre tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Pantytec 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Five Americans record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Albert Ayler,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Girls At Our Best!,
Malaria!,
Nick Fraelich,
Scrapy,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Sun Ra,
Rotary Connection,
a-ha,
Soul II Soul,
Joyce Sims,
John Holt,
Derrick Morgan,
The Grass Roots,
Can,
Groovy Waters,
The Martian,
Shoche,
Man Eating Sloth,
Pantytec,
Duran Duran,
Kaleidoscope,
Siglo XX,
Main Source,
Goldenarms,
Organ,
D'Angelo,
Soul Sonic Force,
UT,
Sun City Girls,
the Germs,
Icehouse,
Black Flag,
Underground Resistance,
Sandy B,
The Blues Magoos,
Arcadia,
Mars,
Arab on Radar,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Loose Ends,
Shuggie Otis,
The Neon Judgement,
Ossler,
Harmonia,
The Last Poets,
B.T. Express,
Fad Gadget,
Agent Orange,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Minny Pops,
The Names,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
The Pretty Things,
Aural Exciters,
Eli Mardock,
Maurizio,
Stiv Bators,
The Doors, The Doors, The Doors, The Doors.
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.