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 Libya and from Bologna.
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 1967 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Glasgow and Copenhagen.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 1973 at the first Television practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the synthesizer 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 Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx to the disco kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Bush Tetras. All the underground hits.
All Eyeless In Gaza tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Negative Approach 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 '80s.
I hear you're buying a snare and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Sixth Finger record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Ronnie Foster,
Section 25,
Lebanon Hanover,
X-101,
The Real Kids,
Rekid,
Lungfish,
James White and The Blacks,
Unwound,
Mr. Review,
F. McDonald,
Main Source,
Davy DMX,
Loose Ends,
Tears for Fears,
Desert Stars,
Organ,
Brothers Johnson,
the Normal,
Freddie Wadling,
Johnny Osbourne,
Juan Atkins,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Groovy Waters,
Boz Scaggs,
Robert Wyatt,
Tubeway Army,
Charles Mingus,
Jerry Gold Smith,
The United States of America,
Pylon,
The Divine Comedy,
Alphaville,
The Toasters,
Essential Logic,
Gastr Del Sol,
Grandmaster Flash,
Gil Scott Heron,
Gang of Four,
Tropical Tobacco,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Spoonie Gee,
Crispian St. Peters,
Crispy Ambulance,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
Monolake,
Tomorrow,
The Beau Brummels,
The Velvet Underground,
The Count Five,
Arthur Verocai,
Kurtis Blow,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Rakim,
The Doors,
Lindisfarne,
Quando Quango,
Piero Umiliani,
Slave,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Index, Index, Index, Index.
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.