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 Georgia and from Columbus.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Big Star show in Memphis.
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 1968 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mexico City and Madrid.
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 1987 at the first Nirvana practice in a loft in Seattle.
I was working on the guitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 OOIOO to the electroclash 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 Sun Ra. All the underground hits.
All Bang on a Can All-Stars tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Slick Rick 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Radio Birdman record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Niagra,
London Community Gospel Choir,
The Leaves,
Lalo Schifrin,
Malaria!,
Public Image Ltd.,
Patti Smith,
The Beau Brummels,
James White and The Blacks,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
the Bar-Kays,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Curtis Mayfield,
The Litter,
Schoolly D,
Robert Hood,
The Remains,
Sound Behaviour,
Iggy Pop,
Johnny Osbourne,
Basic Channel,
Cecil Taylor,
The Names,
Young Marble Giants,
Alton Ellis,
Youth Brigade,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Faust,
Underground Resistance,
The Cramps,
Marmalade,
Barclay James Harvest,
Marvin Gaye,
Kerrie Biddell,
Bill Near,
Crooked Eye,
The Walker Brothers,
Warren Ellis,
Lebanon Hanover,
Mary Jane Girls,
The Black Dice,
Unrelated Segments,
Surgeon,
Franke,
The Detroit Cobras,
Infiniti,
Eric B and Rakim,
Thee Headcoats,
Ken Boothe,
Soft Cell,
Mars,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Bang On A Can,
Skarface,
8 Eyed Spy,
Boz Scaggs,
Andrew Hill,
Man Parrish,
Susan Cadogan,
Swans,
Sunsets and Hearts,
The Angels of Light, The Angels of Light, The Angels of Light, The Angels of Light.
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.