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 Nauru and from Cairo.
But I was there.
I was there in 1962.
I was there at the first Guess Who show in Winnipeg.
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 1960 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Halifax and Paris.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Tokyo 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 1967 at the first Rodriguez practice in a loft in Detroit.
I was working on the güiro sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 crunk kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Richard Hell and the Voidoids. All the underground hits.
All Tubeway Army tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Fugazi record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk 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 mellotron and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Heaven 17 record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Gastr Del Sol,
CMW,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Henry Cow,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
The Young Rascals,
The Vogues,
Frankie Knuckles,
The Names,
Althea and Donna,
Soul II Soul,
Yusef Lateef,
Hashim,
The Fuzztones,
Beasts of Bourbon,
The Alarm Clocks,
Spoonie Gee,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Johnny Clarke,
the Soft Cell,
Lee Hazlewood,
a-ha,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Ronan,
Alice Coltrane,
Quando Quango,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Johnny Osbourne,
James Chance & The Contortions,
The Electric Prunes,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Kayak,
LL Cool J,
Cheater Slicks,
Japan,
Kurtis Blow,
Echospace,
Young Marble Giants,
Underground Resistance,
Talk Talk,
The Walker Brothers,
Vladislav Delay,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Howard Jones,
Sister Nancy,
Glenn Branca,
John Coltrane,
Agent Orange,
Byron Stingily,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Alton Ellis,
The Misunderstood,
Ohio Players,
Prince Buster,
Eric Copeland,
New Order,
Ornette Coleman,
The Seeds,
Make Up,
Carl Craig,
Cal Tjader, Cal Tjader, Cal Tjader, Cal Tjader.
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.