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 Latvia and from Lyon.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Selda show in Istanbul.
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 1968 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Shanghai and Houston.
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 1973 at the first Television practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the organ 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 Lizzy Mercier Descloux to the electroclash kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 48th St. Collective. All the underground hits.
All Radiohead tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Stiv Bators record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge 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 a chamberlin and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Tropical Tobacco record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Bobbi Humphrey,
Boogie Down Productions,
Grauzone,
Wolf Eyes,
Ultra Naté,
Sugar Minott,
Blancmange,
Technova,
Pere Ubu,
Jawbox,
Dennis Brown,
Model 500,
The Fire Engines,
Ituana,
Brothers Johnson,
Rites of Spring,
Tropical Tobacco,
Idris Muhammad,
Gabor Szabo,
Barrington Levy,
The Slits,
Shuggie Otis,
Livin' Joy,
The Offenders,
Dawn Penn,
New York Dolls,
Avey Tare,
Hashim,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Pulsallama,
Mary Jane Girls,
Whodini,
The Trojans,
Ossler,
Sly & The Family Stone,
The Motions,
The Stooges,
Frankie Knuckles,
Das Ding,
Alton Ellis,
Archie Shepp,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Gang Gang Dance,
Girls At Our Best!,
Tubeway Army,
Johnny Clarke,
Bush Tetras,
Pharoah Sanders,
The Cure,
the Slits,
Nico,
Eric Copeland,
Minny Pops,
the Bar-Kays,
Country Teasers,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Aloha Tigers,
R.M.O.,
Throbbing Gristle,
Animal Collective,
Skaos,
Ornette Coleman, Ornette Coleman, Ornette Coleman, Ornette Coleman.
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.