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 South Africa and from Seoul.
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 1961 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Sao Paulo and Johannesburg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 1971 at the first Selda practice in a loft in Istanbul.
I was working on the güiro 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 Pylon to the electroclash kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Minor Threat. All the underground hits.
All Black Pus tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Modern Lovers record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk 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 güiro and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Lucky Dragons record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Trumans Water,
Howard Jones,
Tropical Tobacco,
The Cure,
The Mojo Men,
Parry Music,
The Modern Lovers,
Loose Ends,
Warsaw,
Livin' Joy,
Jerry's Kids,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
The Busters,
Surgeon,
Eden Ahbez,
These Immortal Souls,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Janne Schatter,
the Soft Cell,
Piero Umiliani,
Minny Pops,
Todd Terry,
The Victims,
the Association,
Lucky Dragons,
Gregory Isaacs,
Sister Nancy,
Gang Gang Dance,
Reuben Wilson,
Johnny Clarke,
Youth Brigade,
David Axelrod,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
New York Dolls,
Delta 5,
Mission of Burma,
Dorothy Ashby,
Wolf Eyes,
Whodini,
Technova,
Q and Not U,
Big Daddy Kane,
Sun Ra,
Pantaleimon,
Masters at Work,
Nation of Ulysses,
Minnie Riperton,
Heaven 17,
Soft Machine,
Bauhaus,
Fat Boys,
Peter & Gordon,
Index,
Stetsasonic,
Funkadelic,
Dave Gahan,
Basic Channel,
Nils Olav,
Ossler,
Cameo,
Magma,
X-102, X-102, X-102, X-102.
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.