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 East Timor and from Milan.
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 1965 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Lagos.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Bremen 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 1984 at the first Arcadia practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the oboe 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 Drexciya to the rock kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Frankie Knuckles. All the underground hits.
All Sonny Sharrock tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Delta 5 record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz 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 guitar and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Jawbox record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Henry Cow,
The Sonics,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Wings,
Swell Maps,
Interpol,
The Electric Prunes,
The Blackbyrds,
Urselle,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
X-Ray Spex,
Agent Orange,
Soul Sonic Force,
Whodini,
Rakim,
Lucky Dragons,
Radiohead,
The Dead C,
Nico,
Moby Grape,
Spandau Ballet,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Colin Newman,
Bad Manners,
Soft Machine,
Skarface,
Black Bananas,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Amon Düül II,
Black Pus,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Kerrie Biddell,
Albert Ayler,
the Association,
Dawn Penn,
Erykah Badu,
Negative Approach,
Jawbox,
Robert Görl,
Inner City,
Laurel Aitken,
Todd Terry,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
World's Most,
Altered Images,
The Gories,
Avey Tare,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
Gang of Four,
The Saints,
Visage,
Can,
Sex Pistols,
The Slackers,
Hoover,
Anthony Braxton,
Brick,
Ohio Players,
Al Stewart,
Lee Hazlewood,
10cc,
The Grass Roots, The Grass Roots, The Grass Roots, The Grass Roots.
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.