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 Kenya and from Spokane.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Soft Boys show in Cambridge.
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 1968 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lille and Tehran.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Shanghai 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 sitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Clear Light to the funk kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Monks. All the underground hits.
All Brass Construction tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Saints record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a chamberlin and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Kaleidoscope record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Cecil Taylor,
Idris Muhammad,
Sonic Youth,
Kool Moe Dee,
The Smoke,
Mary Jane Girls,
Sällskapet,
Ronnie Foster,
Sun Ra,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Pagans,
Joey Negro,
Mr. Review,
ABC,
The Electric Prunes,
John Lydon,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Second Layer,
Monolake,
The Trojans,
Aaron Thompson,
Nas,
Gabor Szabo,
Con Funk Shun,
Groovy Waters,
The Residents,
Grandmaster Flash,
Eli Mardock,
Scratch Acid,
Dead Boys,
Accadde A,
Henry Cow,
Fear,
Qualms,
Dual Sessions,
Nils Olav,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Pylon,
Ken Boothe,
Prince Buster,
Saccharine Trust,
New York Dolls,
David Axelrod,
Essential Logic,
Scott Walker,
H. Thieme,
the Human League,
The Kinks,
Supertramp,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Eric B and Rakim,
Vladislav Delay,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Cheater Slicks,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Tomorrow,
Bobby Sherman,
Minnie Riperton,
Rhythm & Sound,
Zapp,
Marvin Gaye,
Patti Smith, Patti Smith, Patti Smith, Patti Smith.
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.