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 Iraq and from Hong Kong.
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 1963 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lyon and Toronto.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Sao Paulo 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 synthesizer 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 the Troubador.
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 The Trojans. All the underground hits.
All Malaria! tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every MC5 record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno 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 an oboe and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Zeros record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Five Americans,
Siglo XX,
The Stooges,
Drexciya,
Pantaleimon,
DJ Style,
Bauhaus,
The Flesh Eaters,
Monks,
The Invisible,
The Move,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Sixth Finger,
Bobby Sherman,
The Fall,
In Retrospect,
X-102,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Scrapy,
The Index,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Young Marble Giants,
Anakelly,
Stiv Bators,
Yazoo,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Pulsallama,
The Birthday Party,
Janne Schatter,
Royal Trux,
the Fania All-Stars,
Camouflage,
Gong,
R.M.O.,
Cal Tjader,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Yellowson,
the Slits,
The Monks,
Sly & The Family Stone,
The Modern Lovers,
Qualms,
Terrestrial Tones,
Organ,
Kenny Larkin,
The Slackers,
Sound Behaviour,
Blossom Toes,
Lyres,
The J.B.'s,
The Sonics,
June Days,
Eddi Front,
Grauzone,
Anthony Braxton,
Urselle,
Brothers Johnson,
Funkadelic,
Malaria!,
The Motions,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Alice Coltrane, Alice Coltrane, Alice Coltrane, Alice Coltrane.
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.