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 Bhutan and from Jakarta.
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 1962 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Jakarta and Calgary.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Johannesburg 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 Feelies practice in a loft in Haledon.
I was working on the harpsichord 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 Symarip to the grime kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Bobby Hutcherson. All the underground hits.
All Dawn Penn tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Motions record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime 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 808 and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Lower 48 record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Sister Nancy,
Sixth Finger,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Mars,
UT,
Essential Logic,
Cecil Taylor,
Banda Bassotti,
Delta 5,
Ice-T,
Accadde A,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Faust,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Eric Dolphy,
Soft Machine,
Althea and Donna,
Cymande,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Technova,
the Soft Cell,
Jawbox,
Terry Callier,
Peter and Kerry,
Laurel Aitken,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Bluetip,
Flash Fearless,
Alton Ellis,
Hoover,
Nation of Ulysses,
Sam Rivers,
Jandek,
Boz Scaggs,
Idris Muhammad,
Stetsasonic,
The Moody Blues,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Brand Nubian,
The Saints,
Urselle,
The Invisible,
The Birthday Party,
The Last Poets,
Don Cherry,
Ituana,
Flipper,
Robert Hood,
Pantaleimon,
Jeru the Damaja,
Pere Ubu,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Audionom,
Agitation Free,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
ABBA,
The Busters,
Jacques Brel,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
the Fania All-Stars,
Supertramp,
Motorama, Motorama, Motorama, Motorama.
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.