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 Rwanda and from Beijing.
But I was there.
I was there in .
I was there at the first Suicide show in New York.
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 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Taipei and Manila.
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 1965 at the first Beefheart practice in a loft in Lancaster.
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 Babytalk to the electroclash kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Five Americans. All the underground hits.
All Scott Walker + Sunn O))) tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Girls At Our Best! 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Index record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
In Retrospect,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Technova,
Monks,
Lalann,
Man Parrish,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Khruangbin,
Curtis Mayfield,
LL Cool J,
Hoover,
Roxette,
Los Fastidios,
Eric B and Rakim,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Television Personalities,
Lebanon Hanover,
Mo-Dettes,
Gabor Szabo,
Country Joe & The Fish,
The Martian,
Yazoo,
The Cowsills,
The Black Dice,
Zero Boys,
L. Decosne,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Q65,
Easy Going,
Glenn Branca,
Cecil Taylor,
Reuben Wilson,
Nico,
The Velvet Underground,
Skarface,
Wings,
The Fire Engines,
Outsiders,
Kaleidoscope,
The Dead C,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
The Slackers,
Bob Dylan,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Bronski Beat,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Jerry's Kids,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Arcadia,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Flamin' Groovies,
The Sonics,
Animal Collective,
Marcia Griffiths,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Delon & Dalcan,
The Stooges,
Deakin,
Motorama,
The Birthday Party, The Birthday Party, The Birthday Party, The Birthday Party.
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.