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 Samoa and from Manila.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Wire show in Watford.
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 1965 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Delhi.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Spokane 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 chamberlin 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 Gabor Szabo to the grunge kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 The Techniques. All the underground hits.
All Judy Mowatt tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Panda Bear 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Reuben Wilson record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator 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?
China Crisis,
Barbara Tucker,
Avey Tare,
Aloha Tigers,
Jawbox,
Mantronix,
Rakim,
Vainqueur,
The Index,
X-102,
John Lydon,
Black Sheep,
The Music Machine,
Robert Hood,
Ponytail,
The American Breed,
Agent Orange,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
Theoretical Girls,
X-Ray Spex,
Radio Birdman,
Malaria!,
Grandmaster Flash,
Terrestrial Tones,
Flash Fearless,
MC5,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Liliput,
Andrew Hill,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Loose Ends,
Hoover,
Derrick Morgan,
Sandy B,
Kurtis Blow,
Glambeats Corp.,
Mission of Burma,
Iggy Pop,
Make Up,
EPMD,
Yaz,
The Fugs,
Groovy Waters,
Sixth Finger,
Minutemen,
Tim Buckley,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
The Raincoats,
The Young Rascals,
Lou Christie,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Gang of Four,
Tomorrow,
the Swans,
DNA,
Heaven 17,
The Fortunes,
Anthony Braxton,
Moss Icon,
Erykah Badu,
Flamin' Groovies,
The Slits,
Qualms,
Black Flag, Black Flag, Black Flag, Black Flag.
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.