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 Uruguay and from Glasgow.
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 1964 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Salvador and Seoul.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Tehran 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 arpeggiator 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 The Gories to the rock kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Tomorrow. All the underground hits.
All Gil Scott Heron tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Names record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap 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 an oboe and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Public Enemy record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Albert Ayler,
The Mummies,
The Mojo Men,
Dual Sessions,
Unwound,
Jawbox,
Babytalk,
Angry Samoans,
The Happenings,
48th St. Collective,
The Sound,
Terry Callier,
The Vogues,
Big Daddy Kane,
Trumans Water,
Scott Walker,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Second Layer,
Kayak,
Wally Richardson,
Kurtis Blow,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
The Trojans,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Eyeless In Gaza,
the Bar-Kays,
Clear Light,
Lalann,
The Invisible,
the Fania All-Stars,
Grauzone,
Hasil Adkins,
Camberwell Now,
Sonny Sharrock,
R.M.O.,
Yazoo,
Zapp,
Yusef Lateef,
Ituana,
The Shadows of Knight,
The Litter,
Radiopuhelimet,
JFA,
The Modern Lovers,
Sam Rivers,
Lindisfarne,
La Düsseldorf,
John Foxx,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Los Fastidios,
Siglo XX,
Gil Scott Heron,
Kevin Saunderson,
Eli Mardock,
Lou Christie,
The Star Department,
Easy Going, Easy Going, Easy Going, Easy Going.
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.