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 Korea North and from Bologna.
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 1967 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Houston and Beijing.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Salvador 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 Throbbing Gristle practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the spring reverb 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 Blake Baxter to the techno 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 Derrick Morgan. All the underground hits.
All Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark 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 '90s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Glenn Branca record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Dark Day,
The Names,
The Barracudas,
Junior Murvin,
Ten City,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Porter Ricks,
Parry Music,
Motorama,
X-102,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Tears for Fears,
Robert Hood,
B.T. Express,
The Techniques,
LL Cool J,
The Victims,
The Motions,
Hardrive,
Patti Smith,
the Soft Cell,
The Red Krayola,
Massinfluence,
Urselle,
Grauzone,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Piero Umiliani,
The Move,
H. Thieme,
E-Dancer,
Flipper,
The Searchers,
Marshall Jefferson,
Suburban Knight,
Los Fastidios,
The Count Five,
Dorothy Ashby,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Glenn Branca,
the Association,
The Zeros,
Guru Guru,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Crooked Eye,
Banda Bassotti,
Neu!,
Beasts of Bourbon,
The Gun Club,
Lebanon Hanover,
Crispian St. Peters,
Lou Christie,
Swans,
U.S. Maple,
Qualms,
The Detroit Cobras,
The American Breed,
Desert Stars,
Tommy Roe,
Yellowson,
Ultra Naté, Ultra Naté, Ultra Naté, Ultra Naté.
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.