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 France and from Mumbai.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Zapp show in Hamilton.
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 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bremen and Sao Paulo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Beijing 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 clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud to the grime kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Jawbox. All the underground hits.
All Bang on a Can All-Stars tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Vladislav Delay record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a D'Angelo record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
James White and The Blacks,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Essential Logic,
Sam Rivers,
The Detroit Cobras,
a-ha,
LL Cool J,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Mantronix,
Lyres,
The Move,
Andrew Hill,
Young Marble Giants,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Wire,
Marine Girls,
JFA,
The Searchers,
Throbbing Gristle,
The Remains,
Kas Product,
Roxette,
Iggy Pop,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
The Selecter,
Goldenarms,
The Motions,
Marvin Gaye,
The Music Machine,
Malaria!,
Shoche,
Rites of Spring,
Banda Bassotti,
Blake Baxter,
Little Man,
Guru Guru,
Pole,
The Smoke,
Hardrive,
The Flesh Eaters,
Alphaville,
Chris Corsano,
Rhythm & Sound,
Clear Light,
Schoolly D,
Marc Almond,
Al Stewart,
Hashim,
The Modern Lovers,
Delta 5,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Procol Harum,
Barclay James Harvest,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Johnny Clarke,
MC5,
Skriet,
Albert Ayler,
Wolf Eyes,
the Slits,
the Normal,
Rekid, Rekid, Rekid, Rekid.
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.