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 Tonga and from Copenhagen.
But I was there.
I was there in 1983.
I was there at the first Lewis show in Vancouver.
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 1961 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Stockholm and Bremen.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Philadelphia 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 Soft Boys practice in a loft in Cambridge.
I was working on the chamberlin 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 Angels of Light & Akron/Family to the funk kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Albert Ayler. All the underground hits.
All Faust tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Mighty Diamonds 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Cramps record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Dorothy Ashby,
The Move,
Roy Ayers,
the Swans,
Mary Jane Girls,
Model 500,
Crime,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Can,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
the Sonics,
Gang of Four,
The Neon Judgement,
Jeff Mills,
The Alarm Clocks,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Wally Richardson,
Animal Collective,
Joe Finger,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Bill Wells,
Reagan Youth,
Harry Pussy,
Gregory Isaacs,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Grey Daturas,
the Bar-Kays,
Archie Shepp,
Masters at Work,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Byron Stingily,
Young Marble Giants,
Al Stewart,
Subhumans,
The Cramps,
Radio Birdman,
Public Enemy,
Ice-T,
Joensuu 1685,
The Smoke,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Liliput,
Von Mondo,
Theoretical Girls,
Scrapy,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Excepter,
KRS-One,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
X-101,
Ponytail,
Suburban Knight,
Scott Walker,
Camberwell Now,
Stereo Dub,
Fluxion,
Shuggie Otis,
Gabor Szabo,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Ohio Players, Ohio Players, Ohio Players, Ohio Players.
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.