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 Mexico and from Madrid.
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 1962 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lyon and Bologna.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Toronto 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 snare 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 Yusef Lateef to the crunk 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 John Coltrane. All the underground hits.
All The Jesus and Mary Chain tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Terrestrial Tones 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Minutemen record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Juan Atkins,
Archie Shepp,
Tears for Fears,
Icehouse,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
The Cramps,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Royal Trux,
Nation of Ulysses,
the Fania All-Stars,
Rod Modell,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Funky Four + One,
Big Daddy Kane,
Unwound,
Eric Dolphy,
Echospace,
Los Fastidios,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
The Grass Roots,
Masters at Work,
Basic Channel,
The Moleskins,
Patti Smith,
The Fugs,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
PIL,
Prince Buster,
Chrome,
Soft Cell,
The Blues Magoos,
Pantytec,
The Evens,
Marine Girls,
The Knickerbockers,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Fugazi,
Fluxion,
Roy Ayers,
Alphaville,
Danielle Patucci,
Desert Stars,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Lebanon Hanover,
the Swans,
Mary Jane Girls,
The Slackers,
Stereo Dub,
Alton Ellis,
Bill Wells,
The Pop Group,
Cal Tjader,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
The Busters,
Delon & Dalcan,
Excepter,
Lightning Bolt,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Anthony Braxton,
Minutemen, Minutemen, Minutemen, Minutemen.
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.