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 Pakistan and from Lyon.
But I was there.
I was there in 1975.
I was there at the first Ubu show in Cleveland.
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 1962 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Beijing and Delhi.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manchester 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 guitar 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 Nils Olav to the techno 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 Au Pairs. All the underground hits.
All Graham Central Station tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Loose Ends record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a 808 and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Index record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
John Holt,
Massinfluence,
Alice Coltrane,
Dawn Penn,
Chris Corsano,
James White and The Blacks,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Soft Machine,
Lakeside,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Qualms,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Scratch Acid,
E-Dancer,
The Selecter,
Lalann,
Funkadelic,
The Tremeloes,
Quando Quango,
Eve St. Jones,
Erasure,
The Five Americans,
Camouflage,
Todd Rundgren,
The Smiths,
Spandau Ballet,
Rapeman,
The Fall,
Tres Demented,
Slick Rick,
The Cure,
Donald Byrd,
the Normal,
The Dave Clark Five,
X-102,
Au Pairs,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Electric Prunes,
The Toasters,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Brand Nubian,
The United States of America,
Spoonie Gee,
Yazoo,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Arab on Radar,
Fifty Foot Hose,
The Happenings,
Dorothy Ashby,
Hasil Adkins,
Can,
The Stooges,
The Gladiators,
Arthur Verocai,
Eric Dolphy,
The Electric Prunes,
The Gories,
The Martian,
Gong,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Bill Near,
Grauzone, Grauzone, Grauzone, Grauzone.
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.