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 Maldives and from Madrid.
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 1961 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bologna and Jakarta.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Calgary 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 arpeggiator 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 Tubeway Army to the grime 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 The United States of America. All the underground hits.
All Mary Jane Girls tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Intrusion record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime 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 a snare and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Kenny Larkin record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
John Cale,
Fear,
Bang On A Can,
New Age Steppers,
La Düsseldorf,
Y Pants,
Scrapy,
Deepchord,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
The Last Poets,
Essential Logic,
Zapp,
Flamin' Groovies,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Dead Boys,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Mission of Burma,
Joe Smooth,
Morten Harket,
Eden Ahbez,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Amon Düül,
Stiv Bators,
the Slits,
Reuben Wilson,
Bill Wells,
Glambeats Corp.,
The Toasters,
Crash Course in Science,
London Community Gospel Choir,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Grey Daturas,
Sound Behaviour,
Ornette Coleman,
Dawn Penn,
Parry Music,
Desert Stars,
Unwound,
H. Thieme,
The Fall,
Colin Newman,
Joy Division,
Aural Exciters,
Toni Rubio,
Nation of Ulysses,
Letta Mbulu,
The Litter,
Lucky Dragons,
The Remains,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Drive Like Jehu,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
The Velvet Underground,
Flash Fearless,
Panda Bear,
Gastr Del Sol,
It's A Beautiful Day,
The Happenings, The Happenings, The Happenings, The Happenings.
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.