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 Norway and from Lagos.
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 1961 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Johannesburg and Hong Kong.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Jakarta 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 clarinet 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 The Five Americans to the grime 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 Morten Harket. All the underground hits.
All Idris Muhammad tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Brick record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime 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 mellotron and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Average White Band record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Anthony Braxton,
Outsiders,
Joey Negro,
The Young Rascals,
Terry Callier,
These Immortal Souls,
The Shadows of Knight,
MC5,
48th St. Collective,
The Smoke,
Lyres,
Ronnie Foster,
Stereo Dub,
Monks,
Ultimate Spinach,
Ultravox,
Desert Stars,
Darondo,
Spandau Ballet,
Pet Shop Boys,
Lakeside,
This Heat,
Boogie Down Productions,
Mary Jane Girls,
The Raincoats,
The Music Machine,
Aloha Tigers,
New Age Steppers,
Laurel Aitken,
Los Fastidios,
Wally Richardson,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Agitation Free,
AZ,
Rhythm & Sound,
The Move,
FM Einheit,
Clear Light,
Isaac Hayes,
Yusef Lateef,
Al Stewart,
The Durutti Column,
Lou Christie,
The Gap Band,
Mantronix,
Michelle Simonal,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
D'Angelo,
World's Most,
Soft Cell,
Hoover,
Chris Corsano,
Minor Threat,
Curtis Mayfield,
The Moleskins,
The Skatalites,
Fort Wilson Riot,
The Selecter,
Joe Finger,
Ornette Coleman,
Dorothy Ashby, Dorothy Ashby, Dorothy Ashby, Dorothy Ashby.
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.