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 East Timor and from Spokane.
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 1969 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manila and Jakarta.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Beijing 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 clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Gian Franco Pienzio to the electroclash kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 CMW. All the underground hits.
All Subhumans tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Whodini record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash 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 an arpeggiator and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Idris Muhammad record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Golliwogs,
The Doors,
Silicon Teens,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Spandau Ballet,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Mark Hollis,
Lalann,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Avey Tare,
Isaac Hayes,
Carl Craig,
Yaz,
Fear,
Organ,
Robert Görl,
Alphaville,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Crispy Ambulance,
Sound Behaviour,
Mo-Dettes,
The Count Five,
Kurtis Blow,
Henry Cow,
Stetsasonic,
Fatback Band,
Public Image Ltd.,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Pussy Galore,
The Invisible,
The Gun Club,
Roxy Music,
Pet Shop Boys,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Depeche Mode,
In Retrospect,
Gregory Isaacs,
Dual Sessions,
Flipper,
Faust,
Magma,
Blossom Toes,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
The Star Department,
Don Cherry,
Junior Murvin,
The Names,
Crash Course in Science,
Desert Stars,
Hoover,
Unwound,
Boogie Down Productions,
The Dave Clark Five,
X-101,
The Gladiators,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Gabor Szabo,
The Pop Group,
Patti Smith,
Soft Cell,
The Human League,
Curtis Mayfield,
Minor Threat, Minor Threat, Minor Threat, Minor Threat.
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.