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 El Salvador and from Woodstock.
But I was there.
I was there in 1967.
I was there at the first Rodriguez show in Detroit.
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 1960 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Beijing and Manila.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Madrid 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 clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Black Moon to the disco kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Davy DMX. All the underground hits.
All Fat Boys tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Marcia Griffiths record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a snare and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Neil Young record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Qualms,
Goldenarms,
Fear,
Roxy Music,
Crispy Ambulance,
Pantaleimon,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Funky Four + One,
Albert Ayler,
Blake Baxter,
Icehouse,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
The Monochrome Set,
Rosa Yemen,
Warsaw,
Hashim,
The Trojans,
Delta 5,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
The Human League,
Tom Boy,
Cluster,
Lee Hazlewood,
DNA,
Wolf Eyes,
Dead Boys,
New York Dolls,
Symarip,
Kas Product,
James Chance & The Contortions,
The Index,
Joe Smooth,
Ultra Naté,
Arab on Radar,
Leonard Cohen,
Scion,
The Sonics,
Whodini,
The Associates,
The Cowsills,
The Raincoats,
Fela Kuti,
The Count Five,
OOIOO,
the Swans,
Excepter,
Scratch Acid,
Roxette,
Lebanon Hanover,
Liliput,
Janne Schatter,
Maleditus Sound,
The Cramps,
Shuggie Otis,
48th St. Collective,
Jeru the Damaja,
Radio Birdman,
John Foxx,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
the Association,
Brick, Brick, Brick, Brick.
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.