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 Ethiopia and from Lyon.
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 1965 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Taipei and Toronto.
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 1971 at the first Selda practice in a loft in Istanbul.
I was working on the theremin 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 Soulsonic Force to the jazz kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Judy Mowatt. All the underground hits.
All Godley & Creme tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Ludus 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Soft Cell record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Von Mondo,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
the Association,
Magazine,
The Martian,
Archie Shepp,
the Swans,
Ossler,
Andrew Hill,
Derrick Morgan,
Arcadia,
Harry Pussy,
The Litter,
Adolescents,
David Bowie,
UT,
Barry Ungar,
New York Dolls,
Bad Manners,
B.T. Express,
The Fire Engines,
Eric B and Rakim,
The Monochrome Set,
One Last Wish,
Anthony Braxton,
Oblivians,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Black Flag,
Slick Rick,
Spandau Ballet,
Blake Baxter,
Tropical Tobacco,
T.S.O.L.,
Outsiders,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
OOIOO,
Wally Richardson,
Carl Craig,
Newcleus,
Glenn Branca,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
Desert Stars,
The Trojans,
Cluster,
Bob Dylan,
Half Japanese,
Pierre Henry,
Rosa Yemen,
Mission of Burma,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Bobby Womack,
Surgeon,
The Toasters,
The Divine Comedy,
Mark Hollis,
Bush Tetras,
Wings,
Marcia Griffiths,
Bluetip,
Sight & Sound,
Junior Murvin,
Pulsallama,
The Slits, The Slits, The Slits, The Slits.
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.