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 Swaziland and from New York.
But I was there.
I was there in 1975.
I was there at the first Ubu show in Cleveland.
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 Edmonton and Tehran.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 theremin sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Intrusion to the rap 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 New York Dolls. All the underground hits.
All The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Joe Finger 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a snare and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Walker Brothers record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Cecil Taylor,
Traffic Nightmare,
Pharoah Sanders,
Eden Ahbez,
Bad Manners,
Pantytec,
The Barracudas,
Moebius,
The Blues Magoos,
DJ Sneak,
James White and The Blacks,
Circle Jerks,
Fela Kuti,
MDC,
Mission of Burma,
The Cosmic Jokers,
The Human League,
Lucky Dragons,
Minny Pops,
The Count Five,
The Slackers,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
The Moody Blues,
The Victims,
Tres Demented,
ABBA,
Donald Byrd,
Skaos,
Wings,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
The Blackbyrds,
Amon Düül II,
EPMD,
Chrome,
Nirvana,
Cluster,
The Red Krayola,
Reuben Wilson,
Black Flag,
David Axelrod,
The Music Machine,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Junior Murvin,
Shoche,
Yusef Lateef,
It's A Beautiful Day,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Mo-Dettes,
Jimmy McGriff,
Zero Boys,
Lower 48,
Stiv Bators,
Joe Smooth,
Marmalade,
Dorothy Ashby,
Arab on Radar,
Fear,
The Fall,
Sparks,
Sex Pistols,
One Last Wish,
Wire,
Panda Bear, Panda Bear, Panda Bear, Panda Bear.
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.