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 Bangladesh and from Mumbai.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Zapp show in Hamilton.
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 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Copenhagen and Edmonton.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Cairo 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 1980 at the first Cybotron practice in a loft in Detroit.
I was working on the harpsichord sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Grandmaster Flash to the disco 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 Bang On A Can. All the underground hits.
All Justin Hinds & The Dominoes tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Sunsets and Hearts record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a snare and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a James White and The Blacks record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Clear Light,
Dual Sessions,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Pole,
Cameo,
Angry Samoans,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Howard Jones,
Cymande,
Pussy Galore,
Blake Baxter,
The Knickerbockers,
Joey Negro,
Letta Mbulu,
The Slackers,
Thee Headcoats,
Shoche,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Black Sheep,
Faraquet,
Absolute Body Control,
Pharoah Sanders,
Pantaleimon,
Soft Machine,
Maleditus Sound,
Drexciya,
Sixth Finger,
Slick Rick,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
U.S. Maple,
Donald Byrd,
Barbara Tucker,
Soulsonic Force,
Quadrant,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
The Blues Magoos,
the Bar-Kays,
Yaz,
Glenn Branca,
Ultra Naté,
the Germs,
Donny Hathaway,
Bob Dylan,
The Gap Band,
Colin Newman,
Con Funk Shun,
Deadbeat,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Boogie Down Productions,
The Smoke,
Warsaw,
Echospace,
Chris Corsano,
LL Cool J,
Rekid,
Lakeside,
the Human League,
Tres Demented,
Rufus Thomas,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Hashim,
Peter & Gordon,
Mission of Burma,
Bill Wells, Bill Wells, Bill Wells, Bill Wells.
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.