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 Serbia and from Cairo.
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 1963 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Beijing and Tokyo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Edmonton 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 guitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Hashim to the jazz kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Techniques. All the underground hits.
All The Jesus and Mary Chain tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Last Poets record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Eli Mardock record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Masters at Work,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
James Chance & The Contortions,
The Seeds,
Angry Samoans,
Silicon Teens,
Robert Görl,
The Fuzztones,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Pagans,
Idris Muhammad,
Radio Birdman,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
the Soft Cell,
Al Stewart,
Warren Ellis,
The Detroit Cobras,
Marine Girls,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
UT,
Easy Going,
Scion,
Severed Heads,
Eve St. Jones,
Delon & Dalcan,
Stockholm Monsters,
The Busters,
Surgeon,
The Cure,
Connie Case,
Mark Hollis,
Nas,
X-101,
Second Layer,
The Barracudas,
Barrington Levy,
Nation of Ulysses,
Hasil Adkins,
The Modern Lovers,
Pantaleimon,
Tubeway Army,
The Neon Judgement,
Bobby Sherman,
Bad Manners,
Lalo Schifrin,
The Martian,
The Young Rascals,
Rhythm & Sound,
Kayak,
Nick Fraelich,
Dawn Penn,
MDC,
Theoretical Girls,
Lebanon Hanover,
Yaz,
H. Thieme,
John Foxx,
Joy Division,
Funky Four + One,
The Last Poets, The Last Poets, The Last Poets, The Last Poets.
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.