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 El Salvador and from Lyon.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Big Star show in Memphis.
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 1962 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Salvador and Lyon.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manila 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 guitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Byron Stingily to the grime 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 Liaisons Dangereuses. All the underground hits.
All Bobby Byrd tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Albert Ayler 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a mellotron and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Selecter record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Crispian St. Peters,
DNA,
Sarah Menescal,
The Selecter,
Saccharine Trust,
Electric Prunes,
a-ha,
Harmonia,
Charles Mingus,
The Blackbyrds,
Big Daddy Kane,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Tres Demented,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Sam Rivers,
Qualms,
Sight & Sound,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Joey Negro,
Gil Scott Heron,
Mantronix,
Franke,
Sparks,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
The Trojans,
R.M.O.,
Absolute Body Control,
Boogie Down Productions,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Ash Ra Tempel,
UT,
Fatback Band,
Essential Logic,
L. Decosne,
John Lydon,
Robert Görl,
The Busters,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Depeche Mode,
Kevin Saunderson,
the Bar-Kays,
Bizarre Inc.,
The Stooges,
The Shadows of Knight,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Cal Tjader,
The Gladiators,
Infiniti,
The Fortunes,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
New Age Steppers,
Symarip,
Peter & Gordon,
Skaos,
Metal Thangz,
Procol Harum,
Aaron Thompson,
Magazine,
MDC,
Neu!,
The Sonics,
Janne Schatter, Janne Schatter, Janne Schatter, Janne Schatter.
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.