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 Ukraine and from Jakarta.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Josef K show in Edinburgh.
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 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Beijing and Portland.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Beijing 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 oboe 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 In Retrospect to the rock kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Eric Copeland. All the underground hits.
All Crash Course in Science tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Absolute Body Control record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz 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 a harpsichord and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Visage record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Echo & the Bunnymen,
the Slits,
Barrington Levy,
Saccharine Trust,
Terrestrial Tones,
Stiv Bators,
Eden Ahbez,
Siglo XX,
The Count Five,
Mary Jane Girls,
Los Fastidios,
Scott Walker,
Nik Kershaw,
Outsiders,
Jeff Lynne,
The Birthday Party,
Yazoo,
Pulsallama,
The Cramps,
Rites of Spring,
Tom Boy,
Mr. Review,
Patti Smith,
Barry Ungar,
The Electric Prunes,
Reagan Youth,
Intrusion,
Lightning Bolt,
Electric Prunes,
Lebanon Hanover,
Whodini,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Sparks,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Pantaleimon,
Grey Daturas,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Piero Umiliani,
Porter Ricks,
CMW,
Masters at Work,
The Doors,
Lalann,
Minutemen,
The Cure,
Guru Guru,
Arcadia,
The Fire Engines,
the Germs,
Tubeway Army,
Dead Boys,
Archie Shepp,
Ponytail,
The Five Americans,
DJ Sneak,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Ronan,
Lou Reed,
Alison Limerick,
Connie Case,
The Smoke, The Smoke, The Smoke, The Smoke.
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.