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 Maldives and from Philadelphia.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Big Star show in Memphis.
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 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Seoul and Sao Paulo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Cairo 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 harpsichord sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Detroit Cobras to the rap kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Sugar Minott. All the underground hits.
All Roy Ayers Ubiquity tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Moebius record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Charles Mingus record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Jeru the Damaja,
David Axelrod,
Absolute Body Control,
Tommy Roe,
The Associates,
Mantronix,
Japan,
Kool Moe Dee,
Michelle Simonal,
Arcadia,
Graham Central Station,
Peter and Kerry,
Yaz,
Pantytec,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Rod Modell,
Buzzcocks,
Arthur Verocai,
Black Sheep,
The Star Department,
Can,
Main Source,
Pole,
The Golliwogs,
the Slits,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Joy Division,
Nick Fraelich,
H. Thieme,
Nation of Ulysses,
Sexual Harrassment,
Symarip,
Porter Ricks,
Electric Light Orchestra,
The Slackers,
Mad Mike,
Kas Product,
Roxy Music,
The Birthday Party,
The Tremeloes,
The Barracudas,
Colin Newman,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Yusef Lateef,
Cabaret Voltaire,
The Sonics,
DJ Sneak,
Dave Gahan,
Stockholm Monsters,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Gang Green,
Jacob Miller,
Tres Demented,
Boredoms,
Lindisfarne,
Pet Shop Boys,
The Detroit Cobras,
The Dave Clark Five,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Peter & Gordon,
Faust, Faust, Faust, Faust.
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.