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 Italy and from Toronto.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Mistral show in Amsterdam.
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 1963 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in New York and Johannesburg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Portland 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 güiro 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 Jawbox to the grunge 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 Traffic Nightmare. All the underground hits.
All Nik Kershaw tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Grandmaster Flash 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Star Department record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
KRS-One,
Aaron Thompson,
Au Pairs,
Nas,
Laurel Aitken,
Robert Wyatt,
Sonny Sharrock,
The Doors,
Lightning Bolt,
Babytalk,
The Monochrome Set,
Ossler,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Joey Negro,
The Blues Magoos,
Agitation Free,
The Wake,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Smog,
Hasil Adkins,
Rhythm & Sound,
Sister Nancy,
Tim Buckley,
The Neon Judgement,
Susan Cadogan,
Bill Wells,
Skriet,
Mo-Dettes,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
The Invisible,
Boogie Down Productions,
Nirvana,
Sun City Girls,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Arab on Radar,
Warsaw,
Half Japanese,
LL Cool J,
Fugazi,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Dawn Penn,
Reuben Wilson,
Symarip,
Jerry's Kids,
Banda Bassotti,
Moebius,
Suicide,
The Toasters,
Talk Talk,
In Retrospect,
John Lydon,
Bob Dylan,
The Skatalites,
The Flesh Eaters,
The Barracudas,
The Velvet Underground,
Ultravox,
The American Breed,
David Axelrod,
Motorama,
The Cure,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Peter & Gordon, Peter & Gordon, Peter & Gordon, Peter & Gordon.
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.