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 Indonesia and from Philadelphia.
But I was there.
I was there in 1968.
I was there at the first Bowie show in Bromley.
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 1965 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mumbai and Calgary.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school New York 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 1973 at the first Television practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the oboe sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Angels of Light & Akron/Family to the rock 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 Sun Ra Arkestra. All the underground hits.
All Ralphi Rosario tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Flipper 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a mellotron and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Smog record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
the Fania All-Stars,
Gil Scott Heron,
Traffic Nightmare,
The Toasters,
Aswad,
New York Dolls,
Lungfish,
Moby Grape,
The Alarm Clocks,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Isaac Hayes,
Throbbing Gristle,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Scientists,
Ludus,
R.M.O.,
Soft Cell,
The Slackers,
Second Layer,
Glenn Branca,
Alphaville,
Saccharine Trust,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
The Slits,
Crime,
The Associates,
Matthew Halsall,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Hasil Adkins,
Das Ding,
Swans,
Gang Gang Dance,
The Detroit Cobras,
Schoolly D,
Roger Hodgson,
The Shadows of Knight,
Kas Product,
Kurtis Blow,
Warren Ellis,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Supertramp,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
The Neon Judgement,
Silicon Teens,
Sarah Menescal,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Susan Cadogan,
Dawn Penn,
The Busters,
Joensuu 1685,
Colin Newman,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Jerry's Kids,
Marvin Gaye,
Marc Almond,
The Gap Band,
Anthony Braxton,
The Names,
Main Source,
Sun Ra,
Whodini, Whodini, Whodini, Whodini.
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.