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 Dominican Republic and from Madrid.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Mistral show in Amsterdam.
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 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and New York.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Johannesburg 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 808 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 Minutemen to the disco kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 The J.B.'s. All the underground hits.
All PIL tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every a-ha record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Blossom Toes record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Ohio Players,
The Velvet Underground,
OOIOO,
The Knickerbockers,
Pere Ubu,
K-Klass,
Wire,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Dave Gahan,
The Fire Engines,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Lucky Dragons,
Eve St. Jones,
David Bowie,
Lou Christie,
Scrapy,
Jimmy McGriff,
Rapeman,
Malaria!,
Trumans Water,
Ralphi Rosario,
Chrome,
Interpol,
Idris Muhammad,
Isaac Hayes,
Flipper,
Television Personalities,
Terrestrial Tones,
Lou Reed,
David McCallum,
Country Joe & The Fish,
10cc,
Terry Callier,
Kevin Saunderson,
Anthony Braxton,
Robert Görl,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Q and Not U,
X-101,
Suburban Knight,
John Foxx,
Agitation Free,
Fatback Band,
Aloha Tigers,
The Doobie Brothers,
Sixth Finger,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Reuben Wilson,
Gang Starr,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Fugazi,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Marine Girls,
Can,
Aswad,
the Soft Cell,
the Fania All-Stars,
Agent Orange,
Rod Modell,
Nas,
Soulsonic Force,
X-Ray Spex,
James White and The Blacks,
Joe Finger, Joe Finger, Joe Finger, Joe Finger.
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.