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 Kazakhstan and from Tehran.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Chic show in New York.
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 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mumbai and Manchester.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Spokane 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 1975 at the first Ubu practice in a loft in Cleveland.
I was working on the oboe sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Barry Ungar to the electroclash 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 Zeros. All the underground hits.
All The Last Poets tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Lalann record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Slackers record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Velvet Underground,
Urselle,
Faraquet,
The Stooges,
Idris Muhammad,
The Dirtbombs,
Skarface,
Hasil Adkins,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Soft Machine,
a-ha,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Inner City,
Pagans,
Tommy Roe,
Circle Jerks,
The Move,
Rufus Thomas,
Jandek,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
These Immortal Souls,
Arcadia,
New York Dolls,
The Sisters of Mercy,
The Smiths,
The Detroit Cobras,
John Lydon,
Nation of Ulysses,
The Walker Brothers,
David McCallum,
Lindisfarne,
Public Enemy,
Ohio Players,
Qualms,
Black Flag,
Bobby Hutcherson,
OOIOO,
The Victims,
Mad Mike,
Au Pairs,
The Seeds,
Pierre Henry,
Morten Harket,
Bob Dylan,
The Gories,
Roger Hodgson,
LL Cool J,
Ten City,
Interpol,
Kaleidoscope,
Radiopuhelimet,
Nirvana,
Minutemen,
Sun City Girls,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Sugar Minott,
Goldenarms,
D'Angelo,
The Blackbyrds,
Delta 5, Delta 5, Delta 5, Delta 5.
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.