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 Kuwait and from Lagos.
But I was there.
I was there in 1975.
I was there at the first Ubu show in Cleveland.
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 1960 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Portland and Taipei.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Spokane 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 1971 at the first Neu! practice in a loft in Düsseldorf.
I was working on the harpsichord sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Slits to the jazz kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Sällskapet. All the underground hits.
All Stetsasonic tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Bobby Sherman 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Rahsaan Roland Kirk record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
the Swans,
Alice Coltrane,
Angry Samoans,
June of 44,
Derrick May,
James White and The Blacks,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Porter Ricks,
D'Angelo,
Anakelly,
Danielle Patucci,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
The Martian,
Rapeman,
EPMD,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Fad Gadget,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Gil Scott Heron,
The Detroit Cobras,
Second Layer,
Technova,
Main Source,
The Wake,
Shoche,
Mission of Burma,
The Doobie Brothers,
Public Enemy,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Flamin' Groovies,
The Mojo Men,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Das Ding,
Terrestrial Tones,
Essential Logic,
Brick,
Wings,
Harpers Bizarre,
Jandek,
Pussy Galore,
Warsaw,
Cal Tjader,
Stereo Dub,
Make Up,
Pere Ubu,
Negative Approach,
Cecil Taylor,
Tears for Fears,
The Saints,
Ultra Naté,
Scion,
The United States of America,
The Slackers,
Tim Buckley,
Swans,
Rufus Thomas,
Morten Harket,
The Remains,
Gong, Gong, Gong, Gong.
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.