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 Zambia and from Taipei.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Feelies show in Haledon.
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 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Halifax and Shanghai.
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 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 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 Mission of Burma to the techno kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Joe Finger. All the underground hits.
All Soft Machine tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Black Flag 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Nation of Ulysses record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a spring reverb.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Drive Like Jehu,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Judy Mowatt,
DNA,
UT,
Bill Near,
Ultravox,
June of 44,
Mad Mike,
Delon & Dalcan,
the Bar-Kays,
Gabor Szabo,
La Düsseldorf,
Eli Mardock,
Brothers Johnson,
Ponytail,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Kerrie Biddell,
Mary Jane Girls,
In Retrospect,
Maleditus Sound,
Half Japanese,
The Misunderstood,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
The Blackbyrds,
New Order,
Drexciya,
Clear Light,
Spandau Ballet,
Kaleidoscope,
8 Eyed Spy,
Nico,
Youth Brigade,
Rekid,
Oneida,
The Searchers,
Pulsallama,
Kas Product,
Albert Ayler,
Dark Day,
Nils Olav,
Mission of Burma,
the Slits,
Pantaleimon,
Sandy B,
The Gories,
The Invisible,
Pagans,
Barbara Tucker,
Babytalk,
The Moleskins,
Aloha Tigers,
Rod Modell,
Guru Guru,
The Human League,
the Soft Cell,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Dawn Penn,
Gerry Rafferty,
Public Image Ltd.,
The Fortunes,
Robert Görl,
Fifty Foot Hose, Fifty Foot Hose, Fifty Foot Hose, Fifty Foot Hose.
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.