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 Cameroon and from Bologna.
But I was there.
I was there in 1962.
I was there at the first Guess Who show in Winnipeg.
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 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Shanghai and Beijing.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Milan 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 clarinet 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 Lightning Bolt to the electroclash kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Chris & Cosey. All the underground hits.
All Piero Umiliani tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Radiopuhelimet record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a rhodes and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Joe Smooth record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Warren Ellis,
The Martian,
Gregory Isaacs,
Accadde A,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Alice Coltrane,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
James White and The Blacks,
Anthony Braxton,
Lungfish,
Underground Resistance,
Marcia Griffiths,
The Angels of Light,
Ultra Naté,
Harry Pussy,
Fugazi,
Buzzcocks,
Lebanon Hanover,
The Neon Judgement,
Donald Byrd,
Davy DMX,
The Offenders,
The Music Machine,
Bobby Byrd,
A Certain Ratio,
The Mummies,
Flash Fearless,
Sister Nancy,
Royal Trux,
Faraquet,
Mr. Review,
John Foxx,
Kenny Larkin,
La Düsseldorf,
Black Pus,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Bad Manners,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
LL Cool J,
Electric Prunes,
DJ Sneak,
Carl Craig,
Eric Dolphy,
Flamin' Groovies,
Rites of Spring,
Urselle,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Interpol,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Nico,
Das Ding,
Ralphi Rosario,
Arab on Radar,
Marine Girls,
Bobby Sherman,
Blossom Toes,
Jeff Mills,
This Heat,
Dawn Penn, Dawn Penn, Dawn Penn, Dawn Penn.
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.