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 Suriname and from Shanghai.
But I was there.
I was there in 1970.
I was there at the first Onyeabor show in Enugu.
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 1964 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tokyo and Taipei.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Madrid 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 1975 at the first Ubu practice in a loft in Cleveland.
I was working on the arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Ituana to the electroclash kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Gun Club. All the underground hits.
All Bobby Sherman tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Skriet 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Eric Copeland record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Rakim,
Traffic Nightmare,
Radiopuhelimet,
Fatback Band,
The Real Kids,
Malaria!,
Youth Brigade,
The Leaves,
Infiniti,
Anakelly,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
June Days,
Brick,
Agitation Free,
Henry Cow,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Scott Walker,
Flipper,
Parry Music,
Das Ding,
Throbbing Gristle,
The Cowsills,
the Soft Cell,
Albert Ayler,
Aswad,
Smog,
Y Pants,
Hoover,
The Trojans,
Fear,
Sex Pistols,
Tim Buckley,
Ken Boothe,
Radio Birdman,
Man Parrish,
Brass Construction,
Wally Richardson,
A Flock of Seagulls,
The Moody Blues,
Tears for Fears,
Lindisfarne,
the Fania All-Stars,
New York Dolls,
Dead Boys,
Harpers Bizarre,
Lou Reed,
Kas Product,
Ronnie Foster,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
the Germs,
Crispian St. Peters,
Sight & Sound,
Avey Tare,
Rites of Spring,
Crime,
Minutemen,
Sexual Harrassment,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
The Remains,
Morten Harket,
The Motions,
Bauhaus, Bauhaus, Bauhaus, Bauhaus.
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.