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 Guatemala and from Portland.
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 1960 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bologna and Johannesburg.
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 1980 at the first Cybotron practice in a loft in Detroit.
I was working on the clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 The Saints to the electroclash kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Organ. All the underground hits.
All Sun Ra Arkestra tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Reuben Wilson record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno 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 clarinet and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Minutemen record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Eden Ahbez,
Severed Heads,
Nas,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
The Doobie Brothers,
Zapp,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Lee Hazlewood,
Siglo XX,
Flipper,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Fugazi,
Anthony Braxton,
The Trojans,
Minor Threat,
Sun Ra,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Make Up,
The Index,
The Fugs,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
The Associates,
The Blackbyrds,
Cluster,
Lightning Bolt,
MDC,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Drive Like Jehu,
Clear Light,
Sun City Girls,
The Fire Engines,
Underground Resistance,
The Busters,
DJ Sneak,
Alice Coltrane,
Letta Mbulu,
Marvin Gaye,
Nick Fraelich,
Minutemen,
Motorama,
Spoonie Gee,
Sam Rivers,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Monks,
Stiv Bators,
Pussy Galore,
Funky Four + One,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
The Invisible,
Nik Kershaw,
LL Cool J,
Livin' Joy,
Niagra,
James White and The Blacks,
The Sonics,
Deakin,
Jacques Brel,
Frankie Knuckles,
Liliput,
Sixth Finger,
Technova,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Mark Hollis, Mark Hollis, Mark Hollis, Mark Hollis.
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.