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 Slovakia and from Manchester.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Buzzcocks show in Bolton.
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 1968 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Glasgow and New York.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school London 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 oboe sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Cecil Taylor to the rock 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 Animal Collective. All the underground hits.
All Richard Hell and the Voidoids tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Amon Düül II record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
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 Pantytec record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Fatback Band,
The Toasters,
Oneida,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Blancmange,
Peter & Gordon,
Depeche Mode,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Japan,
Nik Kershaw,
The Residents,
JFA,
Accadde A,
Stereo Dub,
Prince Buster,
Bobby Womack,
Byron Stingily,
Fluxion,
Sonny Sharrock,
Shuggie Otis,
Jeru the Damaja,
The United States of America,
K-Klass,
Deadbeat,
Model 500,
Thompson Twins,
Glenn Branca,
U.S. Maple,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Intrusion,
Judy Mowatt,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
cv313,
the Association,
Funky Four + One,
John Foxx,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Scion,
June of 44,
Negative Approach,
Wire,
Colin Newman,
Rosa Yemen,
The Last Poets,
The Litter,
Skaos,
DJ Sneak,
This Heat,
Lightning Bolt,
Surgeon,
Radiohead,
Donald Byrd,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Roy Ayers,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Joyce Sims,
Rufus Thomas,
Siglo XX,
Andrew Hill,
Wolf Eyes,
Rakim, Rakim, Rakim, Rakim.
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.