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 Estonia and from Lyon.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Josef K show in Edinburgh.
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 1960 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Paris and London.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school New York 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 spring reverb sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 U.S. Maple to the dance 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 The Electric Prunes. All the underground hits.
All The Techniques tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Angry Samoans record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Darondo record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Robert Wyatt,
Joe Smooth,
The Offenders,
Henry Cow,
Public Image Ltd.,
Clear Light,
June of 44,
Wally Richardson,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Dorothy Ashby,
Pharoah Sanders,
Marmalade,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
James White and The Blacks,
Charles Mingus,
The Human League,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Skaos,
Radio Birdman,
Sister Nancy,
John Foxx,
Joensuu 1685,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
FM Einheit,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Lalo Schifrin,
Glenn Branca,
Skarface,
Monolake,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Sonic Youth,
Ornette Coleman,
Fifty Foot Hose,
The Seeds,
Roxy Music,
Colin Newman,
Pole,
Accadde A,
This Heat,
Goldenarms,
Young Marble Giants,
The Fortunes,
Drive Like Jehu,
Mad Mike,
Blancmange,
Alphaville,
Little Man,
Althea and Donna,
Bad Manners,
Nas,
ABC,
New Age Steppers,
Bobby Byrd,
Moss Icon,
Television,
Fela Kuti,
Hot Snakes,
Man Parrish,
Todd Terry,
Y Pants, Y Pants, Y Pants, Y Pants.
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.