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 Eritrea and from Houston.
But I was there.
I was there in 2001.
I was there at the first Tiga show in Montreal.
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 1967 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Columbus and Hong Kong.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Shanghai 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 spring reverb 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 UT to the grime kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Gary Puckett & The Union Gap. All the underground hits.
All Fela Kuti tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Marmalade 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Nation of Ulysses record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Oneida,
Black Sheep,
Grandmaster Flash,
Brothers Johnson,
the Normal,
The Victims,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Audionom,
New York Dolls,
Heaven 17,
Soft Machine,
Bill Wells,
Donald Byrd,
Funkadelic,
Yaz,
Aswad,
Sonic Youth,
The Names,
Prince Buster,
The Barracudas,
Lower 48,
Charles Mingus,
Average White Band,
Marcia Griffiths,
Bush Tetras,
Alphaville,
Swell Maps,
Robert Görl,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
OOIOO,
The Slits,
Faust,
Deepchord,
Unrelated Segments,
Porter Ricks,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Roxette,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
Ash Ra Tempel,
R.M.O.,
Gang of Four,
Lightning Bolt,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Infiniti,
UT,
Mary Jane Girls,
Mars,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Black Flag,
Scratch Acid,
Man Parrish,
Fluxion,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Kerrie Biddell,
the Human League,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Guru Guru,
Ohio Players,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Black Moon,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Minnie Riperton,
DJ Sneak, DJ Sneak, DJ Sneak, DJ Sneak.
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.