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 Cyprus and from Winnipeg.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Big Star show in Memphis.
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 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Stockholm and Toronto.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Mumbai 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 1976 at the first Chic practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the theremin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Ash Ra Tempel to the electroclash 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 Drexciya. All the underground hits.
All Black Bananas tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Frankie Knuckles record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge 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 marimba and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Donald Byrd record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Althea and Donna,
Au Pairs,
Jacob Miller,
Zapp,
Jeru the Damaja,
Nico,
Urselle,
The Count Five,
Chris & Cosey,
Cheater Slicks,
Thee Headcoats,
Sällskapet,
Marcia Griffiths,
The Real Kids,
The Dirtbombs,
The Saints,
The Black Dice,
Ten City,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Swell Maps,
Graham Central Station,
Marvin Gaye,
Gastr Del Sol,
Bill Near,
Wolf Eyes,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Big Daddy Kane,
The Velvet Underground,
Excepter,
Accadde A,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Terrestrial Tones,
The American Breed,
Colin Newman,
Minny Pops,
Mantronix,
The Young Rascals,
The Blues Magoos,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
The Offenders,
Man Eating Sloth,
Severed Heads,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Magazine,
John Cale,
Masters at Work,
Massinfluence,
Dennis Brown,
David McCallum,
Cecil Taylor,
The Monochrome Set,
Kayak,
Andrew Hill,
Gabor Szabo,
The Mojo Men,
Simply Red,
Rites of Spring,
Black Sheep,
Arab on Radar,
Ronnie Foster,
Swans, Swans, Swans, Swans.
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.