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 Guatemala and from Toronto.
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 1961 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Spokane and Stockholm.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manila 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 808 sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Subhumans to the jazz 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 John Coltrane. All the underground hits.
All The Chocolate Watch Band tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Lyres record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a mellotron and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Avey Tare record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Man Eating Sloth,
Cluster,
Sparks,
The Real Kids,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
Agitation Free,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
The Buckinghams,
H. Thieme,
Kayak,
Archie Shepp,
Ultimate Spinach,
Brand Nubian,
MDC,
Rakim,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Hashim,
Gastr Del Sol,
Saccharine Trust,
Fela Kuti,
Soft Cell,
Scott Walker,
Scrapy,
The Mummies,
The Shadows of Knight,
Technova,
Bizarre Inc.,
Kenny Larkin,
Harpers Bizarre,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Severed Heads,
The Electric Prunes,
Thompson Twins,
Juan Atkins,
Barry Ungar,
Ralphi Rosario,
The Dirtbombs,
Suburban Knight,
Kurtis Blow,
Faraquet,
Don Cherry,
Andrew Hill,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
The Offenders,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Television,
The Blues Magoos,
It's A Beautiful Day,
The Pretty Things,
The Beau Brummels,
Quando Quango,
Joey Negro,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Monks,
Easy Going,
K-Klass,
Crime,
The Standells,
Nas,
Parry Music,
John Lydon,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
10cc, 10cc, 10cc, 10cc.
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.