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 Pakistan and from Bremen.
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 1967 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mumbai and Woodstock.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school London 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 1976 at the first Soft Boys practice in a loft in Cambridge.
I was working on the guitar 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 Gichy Dan to the disco 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 Tubeway Army. All the underground hits.
All Black Bananas tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Lafayette Afro Rock Band record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk 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 güiro and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Boogie Down Productions record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Jandek,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Sandy B,
Bob Dylan,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Soft Cell,
Deadbeat,
The Count Five,
Tubeway Army,
The Index,
Con Funk Shun,
H. Thieme,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
Swell Maps,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Lindisfarne,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
UT,
Silicon Teens,
Flamin' Groovies,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Popol Vuh,
David Axelrod,
Kurtis Blow,
Yaz,
Black Moon,
Sarah Menescal,
The Mighty Diamonds,
The Detroit Cobras,
Anthony Braxton,
Stiv Bators,
Big Daddy Kane,
Crispy Ambulance,
Minutemen,
The United States of America,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Sun Ra,
June of 44,
10cc,
Black Sheep,
Boredoms,
Youth Brigade,
Avey Tare,
Animal Collective,
the Slits,
In Retrospect,
Gastr Del Sol,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Stereo Dub,
Monolake,
Oblivians,
Roy Ayers,
Desert Stars,
The Residents,
Dual Sessions,
Yusef Lateef,
The Gun Club,
Cluster,
Faraquet,
Lou Reed,
Scratch Acid,
Suicide, Suicide, Suicide, Suicide.
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.