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 Jordan and from Shanghai.
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 1966 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and New York.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 1975 at the first Ubu practice in a loft in Cleveland.
I was working on the clarinet 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 Jerry's Kids to the grunge kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 June of 44. All the underground hits.
All Cluster tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Sun Ra Arkestra record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk 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 sitar and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Grass Roots record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Lower 48,
The Vogues,
Tears for Fears,
Nation of Ulysses,
The Cure,
Make Up,
the Swans,
Pharoah Sanders,
Anthony Braxton,
Isaac Hayes,
Joensuu 1685,
In Retrospect,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Joe Finger,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Fluxion,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Gang Green,
Lyres,
The Sound,
Fatback Band,
JFA,
Harpers Bizarre,
The Black Dice,
Yusef Lateef,
Con Funk Shun,
The Seeds,
The Alarm Clocks,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Steve Hackett,
Sam Rivers,
Aural Exciters,
Half Japanese,
The Evens,
Depeche Mode,
Archie Shepp,
Fat Boys,
Ralphi Rosario,
Grauzone,
One Last Wish,
James Chance & The Contortions,
kango's stein massive,
Albert Ayler,
Bobby Sherman,
Piero Umiliani,
John Cale,
Glenn Branca,
Black Sheep,
Outsiders,
The Human League,
Bill Near,
Silicon Teens,
David Axelrod,
Marc Almond,
Smog,
The Mighty Diamonds,
The Fugs,
The Flesh Eaters,
Agent Orange,
The Skatalites,
Black Pus,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Todd Terry, Todd Terry, Todd Terry, Todd Terry.
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.