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 Malaysia and from Beijing.
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 1962 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bologna and Johannesburg.
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 1976 at the first Soft Boys practice in a loft in Cambridge.
I was working on the oboe 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 Thompson Twins to the jazz 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 Eric Copeland. All the underground hits.
All Mandrill tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Vainqueur record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Dead C,
Don Cherry,
The Sonics,
Suicide,
Intrusion,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Jandek,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Arthur Verocai,
Prince Buster,
Second Layer,
Neu!,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
The Durutti Column,
Graham Central Station,
Wolf Eyes,
Eve St. Jones,
Monolake,
Ossler,
Joey Negro,
Royal Trux,
Joe Finger,
Bobby Hutcherson,
The Motions,
Connie Case,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Ash Ra Tempel,
CMW,
Sonic Youth,
Organ,
Adolescents,
DJ Sneak,
JFA,
Echospace,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
KRS-One,
Terry Callier,
B.T. Express,
The Detroit Cobras,
Eli Mardock,
Marcia Griffiths,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Matthew Bourne,
Rotary Connection,
The Standells,
Outsiders,
Barbara Tucker,
Lindisfarne,
James White and The Blacks,
Kurtis Blow,
OOIOO,
The Wake,
The Gun Club,
The Beau Brummels,
Sixth Finger,
The Associates,
Black Flag,
Minny Pops,
The Offenders,
Gichy Dan,
Surgeon,
Max Romeo,
The American Breed, The American Breed, The American Breed, The American Breed.
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.