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 Bulgaria and from Accra.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Feelies show in Haledon.
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 1969 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Seoul and Manchester.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Spokane 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 1967 at the first Rodriguez practice in a loft in Detroit.
I was working on the clarinet 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 Cheater Slicks to the crunk 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 Teenage Jesus and the Jerks. All the underground hits.
All Electric Light Orchestra tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Bang On A Can record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a linndrum and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Fire Engines record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Bob Dylan,
Alison Limerick,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Funky Four + One,
Gong,
Bobby Womack,
Panda Bear,
The Techniques,
Girls At Our Best!,
Sonny Sharrock,
The Monochrome Set,
Ultra Naté,
Jeff Mills,
Unrelated Segments,
Faraquet,
AZ,
The Associates,
David Bowie,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Nik Kershaw,
Nation of Ulysses,
The Grass Roots,
Agent Orange,
Khruangbin,
Nas,
David McCallum,
Marine Girls,
Loose Ends,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Crime,
Mission of Burma,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Hardrive,
The Dirtbombs,
The Wake,
The Evens,
The Happenings,
Monolake,
Janne Schatter,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Crispy Ambulance,
In Retrospect,
Adolescents,
Deepchord,
Toni Rubio,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
The Shadows of Knight,
These Immortal Souls,
June of 44,
Das Ding,
Icehouse,
Scott Walker,
Vainqueur,
Rekid,
Simply Red,
Desert Stars,
Deadbeat,
Faust,
New York Dolls, New York Dolls, New York Dolls, New York Dolls.
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.