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 Angola and from Lagos.
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 1960 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Madrid 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 1984 at the first Arcadia practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the clarinet 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 The Alarm Clocks to the electroclash kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Sight & Sound. All the underground hits.
All Bang On A Can tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Victims record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Leonard Cohen record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Cluster,
48th St. Collective,
Dual Sessions,
Average White Band,
The Pretty Things,
B.T. Express,
Half Japanese,
Franke,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Siglo XX,
La Düsseldorf,
The Buckinghams,
Laurel Aitken,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Porter Ricks,
Boogie Down Productions,
Scientists,
Jacob Miller,
Lindisfarne,
The Electric Prunes,
Matthew Halsall,
the Sonics,
Rotary Connection,
The Velvet Underground,
Shoche,
The Modern Lovers,
the Germs,
Simply Red,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Brass Construction,
F. McDonald,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Tropical Tobacco,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Youth Brigade,
Barrington Levy,
Country Joe & The Fish,
the Slits,
Scion,
T.S.O.L.,
Gang of Four,
The J.B.'s,
Lightning Bolt,
Al Stewart,
Lower 48,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
The Fugs,
Piero Umiliani,
Fad Gadget,
D'Angelo,
Television Personalities,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Minutemen,
The Trojans,
Derrick May,
Black Flag,
Tomorrow,
Unrelated Segments,
The Real Kids,
Accadde A, Accadde A, Accadde A, Accadde A.
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.