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 Kiribati and from Beijing.
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 1967 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Stockholm and Tehran.
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 1973 at the first Television practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the mellotron 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 The Litter to the grunge kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Human League. All the underground hits.
All Soulsonic Force tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Nik Kershaw record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a linndrum and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Royal Family And The Poor record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Gun Club,
The Associates,
Brass Construction,
Ultimate Spinach,
The Durutti Column,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Theoretical Girls,
Drive Like Jehu,
Pharoah Sanders,
The New Christs,
Moebius,
Donny Hathaway,
Crash Course in Science,
DJ Style,
the Association,
Sarah Menescal,
Leonard Cohen,
Clear Light,
Deadbeat,
Anakelly,
B.T. Express,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Prince Buster,
The Residents,
Lightning Bolt,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
New York Dolls,
Avey Tare,
Echospace,
Wolf Eyes,
U.S. Maple,
The Red Krayola,
Aswad,
Gabor Szabo,
Sex Pistols,
Monks,
Grey Daturas,
Con Funk Shun,
Goldenarms,
The Skatalites,
Fear,
the Human League,
Lower 48,
Royal Trux,
Section 25,
Massinfluence,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Yusef Lateef,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Technova,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
The Vogues,
Cal Tjader,
Quando Quango,
New Order,
The Dead C,
Rufus Thomas,
Barrington Levy,
Gastr Del Sol,
These Immortal Souls,
the Sonics,
The Black Dice,
Tears for Fears, Tears for Fears, Tears for Fears, Tears for Fears.
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.