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 Russia and from Tehran.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Feelies show in Haledon.
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 1966 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Milan and Shanghai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Copenhagen 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 1971 at the first Big Star practice in a loft in Memphis.
I was working on the organ 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 Human League to the crunk kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Barrington Levy. All the underground hits.
All The J.B.'s tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Janne Schatter record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash 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 an arpeggiator and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Livin' Joy record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Knickerbockers,
The Leaves,
Alton Ellis,
Mo-Dettes,
Morten Harket,
Procol Harum,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Bill Near,
Sight & Sound,
Electric Prunes,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Blancmange,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Agitation Free,
Echospace,
Bronski Beat,
Underground Resistance,
Harpers Bizarre,
Sarah Menescal,
Skarface,
Jeru the Damaja,
Brick,
The Seeds,
Danielle Patucci,
Bootsy Collins,
Cal Tjader,
Thee Headcoats,
Tom Boy,
The Misunderstood,
Man Eating Sloth,
The J.B.'s,
The Zeros,
The Last Poets,
Sam Rivers,
Rufus Thomas,
Sonny Sharrock,
Big Daddy Kane,
The Human League,
Ludus,
Animal Collective,
Wasted Youth,
Joy Division,
Eric B and Rakim,
Duran Duran,
New York Dolls,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Skaos,
Howard Jones,
Spoonie Gee,
Deakin,
The Names,
Graham Central Station,
Technova,
Slick Rick,
Subhumans,
H. Thieme,
Buzzcocks,
Television Personalities,
Rites of Spring,
Marshall Jefferson,
Kevin Saunderson,
Deadbeat, Deadbeat, Deadbeat, Deadbeat.
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.