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 Delhi.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Second Layer show in South London.
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 Mexico City and Winnipeg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Shanghai 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 1965 at the first Beefheart practice in a loft in Lancaster.
I was working on the clarinet 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 Fifty Foot Hose to the electroclash kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Corsano. All the underground hits.
All Animal Collective tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Mo-Dettes record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Grandmaster Flash record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Anthony Braxton,
Saccharine Trust,
The Motions,
Anakelly,
Eric B and Rakim,
Chrome,
The Divine Comedy,
Lungfish,
a-ha,
Bauhaus,
Silicon Teens,
Jerry's Kids,
Unrelated Segments,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
the Sonics,
Sällskapet,
Fad Gadget,
Altered Images,
Mark Hollis,
Monolake,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Nico,
Piero Umiliani,
B.T. Express,
Lindisfarne,
Kool Moe Dee,
The Cure,
Mantronix,
Organ,
Matthew Bourne,
Jeff Mills,
the Slits,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Be Bop Deluxe,
ABBA,
Minny Pops,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Joy Division,
Grandmaster Flash,
The Knickerbockers,
Harpers Bizarre,
Delon & Dalcan,
The Cramps,
Peter and Kerry,
Iggy Pop,
Avey Tare,
Agent Orange,
The Golliwogs,
Boz Scaggs,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
The Shadows of Knight,
Crooked Eye,
Mandrill,
Albert Ayler,
Das Ding,
Wolf Eyes,
The Slits,
The Durutti Column,
The Real Kids, The Real Kids, The Real Kids, The Real Kids.
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.