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 Uzbekistan and from Mumbai.
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 Mumbai and Toronto.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Philadelphia 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 Big Star practice in a loft in Memphis.
I was working on the marimba sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Cramps to the funk 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 Lalann. All the underground hits.
All Cameo tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Camouflage record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk 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 linndrum and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Henry Cow,
OOIOO,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Chris & Cosey,
Grey Daturas,
The Blues Magoos,
Television Personalities,
B.T. Express,
Rotary Connection,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Dorothy Ashby,
Glenn Branca,
Hot Snakes,
Boredoms,
Brass Construction,
Malaria!,
Wolf Eyes,
Black Bananas,
Big Daddy Kane,
the Swans,
Cecil Taylor,
Oneida,
Flamin' Groovies,
Smog,
The New Christs,
Barrington Levy,
Radiohead,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
the Slits,
DJ Sneak,
Nas,
Adolescents,
Eric Copeland,
Marcia Griffiths,
Zero Boys,
CMW,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Toni Rubio,
Porter Ricks,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Boogie Down Productions,
X-102,
Juan Atkins,
Ice-T,
Tears for Fears,
The Electric Prunes,
Boz Scaggs,
Freddie Wadling,
Amazonics,
Vainqueur,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Motorama,
Gil Scott Heron,
The Litter,
Bush Tetras,
Ten City,
The Gladiators,
The Young Rascals,
Unrelated Segments,
Swell Maps,
Cymande,
Wire,
The Last Poets, The Last Poets, The Last Poets, The Last Poets.
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.