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 Mauritania and from Winnipeg.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Second Layer show in South London.
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 1967 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Cairo and Accra.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 organ sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Slits to the techno 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 Circle Jerks. All the underground hits.
All Andrew Hill tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Vaughan Mason & Crew record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a World's Most record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
R.M.O.,
Sam Rivers,
Scott Walker,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Gang Gang Dance,
Minnie Riperton,
Maurizio,
The Dead C,
Scan 7,
Pole,
OOIOO,
Howard Jones,
The Motions,
Lalo Schifrin,
The Slackers,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Barry Ungar,
Stereo Dub,
Mad Mike,
E-Dancer,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Todd Rundgren,
Public Image Ltd.,
KRS-One,
ABC,
The Standells,
Cheater Slicks,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Lucky Dragons,
K-Klass,
The Divine Comedy,
The Smiths,
Technova,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Monks,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Funkadelic,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
John Coltrane,
Traffic Nightmare,
The Velvet Underground,
Flipper,
The Invisible,
Sly & The Family Stone,
The Busters,
Black Sheep,
The Move,
The Barracudas,
Buzzcocks,
The Happenings,
B.T. Express,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
MC5,
Nas,
10cc,
Wasted Youth,
Donny Hathaway,
Tres Demented,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Sixth Finger,
The Five Americans,
Interpol,
Livin' Joy, Livin' Joy, Livin' Joy, Livin' Joy.
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.