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 Estonia and from Beijing.
But I was there.
I was there in 1967.
I was there at the first Rodriguez show in Detroit.
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 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Columbus and Houston.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Portland 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 1987 at the first Nirvana practice in a loft in Seattle.
I was working on the mellotron 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 Ultra Naté to the crunk 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 Henry Cow. All the underground hits.
All Pulsallama tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Brick 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 clarinet and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Jandek record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
David Axelrod,
Traffic Nightmare,
The Count Five,
Gang Starr,
Cal Tjader,
Dark Day,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Patti Smith,
Joy Division,
Motorama,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
The Litter,
Rapeman,
Bobby Byrd,
The Pop Group,
Excepter,
Arcadia,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Donald Byrd,
The Martian,
Iggy Pop,
Peter and Kerry,
Kas Product,
Intrusion,
The Fall,
Terry Callier,
Tomorrow,
Flipper,
World's Most,
Frankie Knuckles,
Ponytail,
Agitation Free,
Roxy Music,
Niagra,
Accadde A,
Das Ding,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Chris & Cosey,
The Durutti Column,
The Standells,
D'Angelo,
Sarah Menescal,
Mo-Dettes,
Flamin' Groovies,
The Toasters,
Stereo Dub,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Colin Newman,
Derrick Morgan,
Henry Cow,
Public Image Ltd.,
Dennis Brown,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
The Angels of Light,
Nick Fraelich,
The Doors,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Faust,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Hoover,
The Last Poets,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Jawbox,
Hot Snakes, Hot Snakes, Hot Snakes, Hot Snakes.
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.