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 Algeria and from Philadelphia.
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 1962 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Paris.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 1977 at the first Mistral practice in a loft in Amsterdam.
I was working on the snare 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 Fort Wilson Riot to the funk kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Y Pants. All the underground hits.
All Second Layer tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Lakeside record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a 808 and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Livin' Joy record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
James White and The Blacks,
Dorothy Ashby,
Freddie Wadling,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Quantec,
Sun City Girls,
Eric B and Rakim,
Agent Orange,
ABC,
Alison Limerick,
Outsiders,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Terry Callier,
New Age Steppers,
T.S.O.L.,
Eurythmics,
The Blues Magoos,
Cybotron,
the Sonics,
Magazine,
The Standells,
Das Ding,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Shuggie Otis,
Babytalk,
Gichy Dan,
Ice-T,
The Doobie Brothers,
Brass Construction,
Erasure,
Nils Olav,
Ultimate Spinach,
David Axelrod,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Unrelated Segments,
Bronski Beat,
Joensuu 1685,
One Last Wish,
Connie Case,
The Pretty Things,
Moby Grape,
Massinfluence,
Warren Ellis,
Tubeway Army,
Duran Duran,
Ludus,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
The Beau Brummels,
Ultra Naté,
Idris Muhammad,
Albert Ayler,
Fad Gadget,
Flipper,
The Kinks,
Bauhaus,
Henry Cow,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
The Sonics,
Buzzcocks,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
X-Ray Spex, X-Ray Spex, X-Ray Spex, X-Ray Spex.
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.