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 Guinea-Bissau and from Philadelphia.
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 1965 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mumbai and Toronto.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Calgary 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 oboe sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Jerry Gold Smith to the rock 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 Frankie Knuckles. All the underground hits.
All The Sound tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Pulsallama 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 clarinet and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Neon Judgement record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Zapp,
Thee Headcoats,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
The Selecter,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
CMW,
Pagans,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Faraquet,
John Foxx,
Jeff Mills,
Anakelly,
Marcia Griffiths,
Chris Corsano,
K-Klass,
La Düsseldorf,
Rites of Spring,
Franke,
The Last Poets,
the Association,
Gerry Rafferty,
The Toasters,
Desert Stars,
Hot Snakes,
Erasure,
Crime,
the Normal,
Minny Pops,
Danielle Patucci,
Amon Düül,
Unwound,
Swell Maps,
The Human League,
The Cure,
PIL,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Reuben Wilson,
Idris Muhammad,
Crash Course in Science,
Porter Ricks,
Quando Quango,
The Alarm Clocks,
The Cowsills,
The Monochrome Set,
Goldenarms,
Gang Green,
Soft Machine,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Brass Construction,
Heaven 17,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
In Retrospect,
Eden Ahbez,
The Blackbyrds,
Sam Rivers,
Lucky Dragons,
Michelle Simonal,
UT,
Can,
The Gap Band, The Gap Band, The Gap Band, The Gap Band.
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.