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 Comoros and from Shanghai.
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 1962 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Edmonton and Halifax.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Winnipeg 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 1977 at the first Mistral practice in a loft in Amsterdam.
I was working on the rhodes sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Qualms to the dance 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 The Leaves. All the underground hits.
All The Real Kids tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Scrapy record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Sun Ra Arkestra record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
James Chance & The Contortions,
Mars,
Circle Jerks,
Kurtis Blow,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Zapp,
Radiohead,
the Slits,
Black Flag,
Laurel Aitken,
Bobby Byrd,
T. Rex,
Fela Kuti,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
Alison Limerick,
Lalann,
Technova,
Yaz,
Don Cherry,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Unrelated Segments,
Cluster,
The Red Krayola,
Josef K,
Ken Boothe,
Suburban Knight,
Mission of Burma,
The Slits,
Absolute Body Control,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Joe Finger,
Average White Band,
Joensuu 1685,
Boz Scaggs,
Traffic Nightmare,
Little Man,
Wally Richardson,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
New York Dolls,
The Standells,
X-102,
Warren Ellis,
Terrestrial Tones,
Simply Red,
Skarface,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
June of 44,
Pharoah Sanders,
Saccharine Trust,
The Associates,
Y Pants,
Q and Not U,
Rites of Spring,
Dorothy Ashby,
The Doors,
Rotary Connection,
cv313,
Television,
Spoonie Gee, Spoonie Gee, Spoonie Gee, Spoonie Gee.
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.