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 Paraguay and from Portland.
But I was there.
I was there in 1983.
I was there at the first Bronski Beat show in Brixton.
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 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Toronto and Sao Paulo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manila 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 1971 at the first Selda practice in a loft in Istanbul.
I was working on the harpsichord 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 Rod Modell to the dance kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 China Crisis. All the underground hits.
All Nico tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Sonic Youth 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a rhodes and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Monochrome Set record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Jandek,
Rosa Yemen,
Mission of Burma,
The Grass Roots,
Cal Tjader,
Wally Richardson,
Zero Boys,
Visage,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Davy DMX,
Ronnie Foster,
Mo-Dettes,
Whodini,
the Bar-Kays,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Crash Course in Science,
The Doobie Brothers,
Theoretical Girls,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Pantaleimon,
Severed Heads,
Terry Callier,
Junior Murvin,
Kool Moe Dee,
Prince Buster,
Hashim,
Eden Ahbez,
Ash Ra Tempel,
L. Decosne,
Kenny Larkin,
Jacques Brel,
Gong,
Grauzone,
Ornette Coleman,
MDC,
Chris & Cosey,
The Skatalites,
Tim Buckley,
Reagan Youth,
The Leaves,
Loose Ends,
Magazine,
Echospace,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Cecil Taylor,
Rekid,
Duran Duran,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Roy Ayers,
Joey Negro,
The Litter,
Big Daddy Kane,
Albert Ayler,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
The Red Krayola,
Urselle,
Vainqueur,
Essential Logic,
Jimmy McGriff,
Yellowson,
Sun City Girls,
The Cramps, The Cramps, The Cramps, The Cramps.
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.