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 Liberia and from Beijing.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Feelies show in Haledon.
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 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Cairo and Winnipeg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Shanghai 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 clarinet 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 Unwound to the rap kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Joyce Sims. All the underground hits.
All Bang on a Can All-Stars tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Ash Ra Tempel record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Jerry's Kids record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Move,
Television Personalities,
Von Mondo,
Matthew Halsall,
John Holt,
The Leaves,
Tommy Roe,
Can,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
The Slits,
Ohio Players,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
X-101,
Accadde A,
Scientists,
Pulsallama,
Cymande,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Fad Gadget,
kango's stein massive,
ABBA,
X-102,
Sound Behaviour,
Lalann,
Don Cherry,
Quando Quango,
Gang Green,
Warsaw,
Throbbing Gristle,
Flamin' Groovies,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
The Electric Prunes,
The Busters,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Terrestrial Tones,
Scott Walker,
The Doobie Brothers,
Nik Kershaw,
The Last Poets,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Joe Finger,
Loose Ends,
Sparks,
Susan Cadogan,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Jeff Mills,
Tom Boy,
The Skatalites,
James White and The Blacks,
Pussy Galore,
Howard Jones,
The Dave Clark Five,
Adolescents,
Crooked Eye,
Minny Pops,
Blake Baxter,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Gichy Dan, Gichy Dan, Gichy Dan, Gichy Dan.
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.