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 Swaziland and from Johannesburg.
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 1966 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Salvador and Beijing.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Beijing 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 organ 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 Cybotron to the grunge kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Marc Almond. All the underground hits.
All Bill Wells tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Grauzone 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a snare and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Terror Squad Feat. Camron record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Depeche Mode,
Echospace,
Moebius,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
the Germs,
Lungfish,
Black Moon,
Big Daddy Kane,
Urselle,
Electric Prunes,
Max Romeo,
The Zeros,
Suburban Knight,
Magazine,
Monolake,
Marcia Griffiths,
Mission of Burma,
Minnie Riperton,
Swans,
Iggy Pop,
Essential Logic,
Soft Machine,
Curtis Mayfield,
Nik Kershaw,
Gregory Isaacs,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Aloha Tigers,
Bronski Beat,
The Smiths,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Lakeside,
Blossom Toes,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
B.T. Express,
Blake Baxter,
Marmalade,
Sexual Harrassment,
Scott Walker,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
X-102,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
The Offenders,
Country Teasers,
John Holt,
Chris & Cosey,
Charles Mingus,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
AZ,
Guru Guru,
Young Marble Giants,
Glenn Branca,
Zero Boys,
Godley & Creme,
Cheater Slicks,
Drexciya,
The Divine Comedy,
Amon Düül, Amon Düül, Amon Düül, Amon Düül.
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.