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 Kenya and from Toronto.
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 1960 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Portland and Beijing.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 1976 at the first Buzzcocks practice in a loft in Bolton.
I was working on the 808 sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Y Pants to the jazz 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 Pere Ubu. All the underground hits.
All Funky Four + One tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Cybotron record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Ultravox,
Slave,
Crash Course in Science,
Little Man,
Brick,
Gastr Del Sol,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Davy DMX,
The Smiths,
Yellowson,
AZ,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
Nik Kershaw,
The Invisible,
Country Teasers,
FM Einheit,
Bush Tetras,
Amazonics,
Circle Jerks,
Robert Hood,
Buzzcocks,
The Black Dice,
Derrick Morgan,
Skarface,
Quantec,
The Residents,
Barbara Tucker,
CMW,
Anthony Braxton,
Animal Collective,
The Wake,
Big Daddy Kane,
The Star Department,
Trumans Water,
Young Marble Giants,
Magazine,
Roxy Music,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Wasted Youth,
The Offenders,
E-Dancer,
Average White Band,
Sun Ra,
Joy Division,
Tres Demented,
Curtis Mayfield,
ABC,
Smog,
Kurtis Blow,
Joey Negro,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Popol Vuh,
Tim Buckley,
The Grass Roots,
the Sonics,
T.S.O.L.,
Stiv Bators,
Y Pants,
Maleditus Sound,
The Sound,
Fear,
PIL, PIL, PIL, PIL.
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.