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 Singapore and from Philadelphia.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Josef K show in Edinburgh.
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 1963 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Delhi and Portland.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Woodstock 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 snare sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Qualms to the funk kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Scientists. All the underground hits.
All Lonnie Liston Smith tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Nirvana record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco 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 rhodes and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Neil Young & Crazy Horse record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Pretty Things,
Eric B and Rakim,
Rufus Thomas,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Crispy Ambulance,
The Seeds,
Panda Bear,
U.S. Maple,
Khruangbin,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Juan Atkins,
Blancmange,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Todd Rundgren,
Scrapy,
Gang of Four,
The Mojo Men,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
LL Cool J,
The Electric Prunes,
Vainqueur,
Reuben Wilson,
Hardrive,
Fad Gadget,
World's Most,
Cecil Taylor,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Public Image Ltd.,
Saccharine Trust,
Ice-T,
Boredoms,
Skarface,
Bronski Beat,
Ultra Naté,
Adolescents,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Silicon Teens,
Danielle Patucci,
Kaleidoscope,
the Normal,
Jawbox,
Sarah Menescal,
Prince Buster,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Camouflage,
Royal Trux,
Roy Ayers,
China Crisis,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Ornette Coleman,
The Gap Band,
Robert Görl,
Wally Richardson,
The Buckinghams,
48th St. Collective,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Young Marble Giants,
Index,
Sex Pistols,
The Smoke,
Tropical Tobacco,
The Birthday Party, The Birthday Party, The Birthday Party, The Birthday Party.
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.