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 Marshall Islands and from Mexico City.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Human League show in Sheffield.
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 1961 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Salvador and Beijing.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Mumbai 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 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 Warren Ellis to the rock kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Qualms. All the underground hits.
All Notorious Big And Bone Thugs tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Vainqueur record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Cowsills record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Jeff Mills,
Wolf Eyes,
Barrington Levy,
Scott Walker,
Zapp,
Flamin' Groovies,
Gang of Four,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
The Young Rascals,
The Fortunes,
The Skatalites,
Theoretical Girls,
KRS-One,
Brick,
Boogie Down Productions,
Aural Exciters,
La Düsseldorf,
Fear,
Scientists,
Gastr Del Sol,
Ohio Players,
Tim Buckley,
Index,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Niagra,
Terrestrial Tones,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Hoover,
Tomorrow,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Donald Byrd,
Josef K,
Brothers Johnson,
The American Breed,
Glenn Branca,
Nation of Ulysses,
The Associates,
Henry Cow,
The Happenings,
Tres Demented,
Altered Images,
Moby Grape,
Unwound,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Eurythmics,
Slave,
Dead Boys,
Sparks,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Derrick May,
Graham Central Station,
Royal Trux,
Goldenarms,
Au Pairs, Au Pairs, Au Pairs, Au Pairs.
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.