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 Pakistan and from Mumbai.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Feelies show in Haledon.
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 1966 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Toronto and Beijing.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lille 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 sitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Heaven 17 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 Marcia Griffiths. All the underground hits.
All The J.B.'s tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Max Romeo record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk 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 808 and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Oblivians record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Joy Division,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
One Last Wish,
Slave,
Radio Birdman,
Hardrive,
Barrington Levy,
Freddie Wadling,
U.S. Maple,
Jandek,
Black Flag,
Soft Cell,
Bauhaus,
Blancmange,
The Index,
F. McDonald,
The Divine Comedy,
Ultimate Spinach,
Jerry's Kids,
Lebanon Hanover,
Siglo XX,
The Saints,
Tears for Fears,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Stiv Bators,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
The Dave Clark Five,
Q and Not U,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Wasted Youth,
Rod Modell,
Liliput,
Ohio Players,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Little Man,
The United States of America,
New Order,
Steve Hackett,
Vainqueur,
Roger Hodgson,
Aaron Thompson,
Radiohead,
Idris Muhammad,
Lucky Dragons,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Deadbeat,
Joey Negro,
Althea and Donna,
Subhumans,
Judy Mowatt,
Guru Guru,
Erykah Badu,
The Vogues,
Cymande,
The Shadows of Knight,
Black Moon,
Mission of Burma,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Nirvana,
Amon Düül,
Minnie Riperton, Minnie Riperton, Minnie Riperton, Minnie Riperton.
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.