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 Cameroon and from Johannesburg.
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 1969 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tokyo and Johannesburg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Stockholm 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 1987 at the first Nirvana practice in a loft in Seattle.
I was working on the oboe 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 Dawn Penn to the grunge 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 Rekid. All the underground hits.
All Ludus tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Black Flag record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a mellotron and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Glambeats Corp. record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Joe Smooth,
Agent Orange,
Cymande,
Lalann,
The Mummies,
Altered Images,
Audionom,
Scientists,
Circle Jerks,
B.T. Express,
Soul II Soul,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Hot Snakes,
Ituana,
The Birthday Party,
Suicide,
The Grass Roots,
Surgeon,
The Detroit Cobras,
The Modern Lovers,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Au Pairs,
Davy DMX,
Moss Icon,
The Seeds,
Mad Mike,
The Cowsills,
Fela Kuti,
The Human League,
The Index,
Gichy Dan,
Neu!,
Public Enemy,
Patti Smith,
Derrick May,
Eden Ahbez,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Barry Ungar,
Clear Light,
the Bar-Kays,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Donald Byrd,
Sugar Minott,
Kurtis Blow,
Black Sheep,
Warren Ellis,
Boredoms,
Desert Stars,
Erykah Badu,
Brothers Johnson,
Wire,
Tim Buckley,
Lindisfarne,
The Red Krayola,
Icehouse,
Outsiders,
Jeru the Damaja,
Sun City Girls,
Kayak,
Rod Modell,
Pagans,
Chrome,
Lou Reed, Lou Reed, Lou Reed, Lou Reed.
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.