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 San Marino and from Shanghai.
But I was there.
I was there in 1965.
I was there at the first Beefheart show in Lancaster.
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 1963 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Stockholm and Delhi.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Seoul 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 marimba sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Gichy Dan to the jazz kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Agent Orange. All the underground hits.
All Pierre Henry tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Sonny Sharrock 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Skriet record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a linndrum.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Fad Gadget,
Marvin Gaye,
PIL,
Gang Green,
The Count Five,
In Retrospect,
Danielle Patucci,
The Invisible,
Matthew Bourne,
Roy Ayers,
Rhythm & Sound,
Judy Mowatt,
Flamin' Groovies,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Underground Resistance,
The Litter,
Cymande,
The Techniques,
Newcleus,
Sex Pistols,
Theoretical Girls,
Robert Wyatt,
James Chance & The Contortions,
The Kinks,
Patti Smith,
Alphaville,
Monks,
Barbara Tucker,
Alton Ellis,
The Slits,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Niagra,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Rod Modell,
Stetsasonic,
Tom Boy,
Interpol,
Crooked Eye,
Joyce Sims,
The Pop Group,
Depeche Mode,
Basic Channel,
The Divine Comedy,
Yusef Lateef,
Barry Ungar,
the Human League,
Toni Rubio,
Arcadia,
Kurtis Blow,
Saccharine Trust,
Glenn Branca,
Dark Day,
Rakim,
Cheater Slicks,
Wasted Youth,
The Electric Prunes,
Gong,
Crispian St. Peters,
Oblivians,
Joe Finger,
Erasure, Erasure, Erasure, Erasure.
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.