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 Uganda and from Delhi.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Second Layer show in South London.
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 1961 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Portland and Cairo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Seoul 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 1977 at the first Mistral practice in a loft in Amsterdam.
I was working on the 808 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 Radio Birdman to the punk 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 Ralphi Rosario. All the underground hits.
All Swans tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Boredoms record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Surgeon record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Graham Central Station,
Roger Hodgson,
The Real Kids,
Pylon,
Tommy Roe,
Funky Four + One,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Terrestrial Tones,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Charles Mingus,
Duran Duran,
Minnie Riperton,
Mo-Dettes,
Funkadelic,
Scott Walker,
Lower 48,
The Misunderstood,
B.T. Express,
John Cale,
The Busters,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Jawbox,
Tim Buckley,
Glambeats Corp.,
Outsiders,
Warsaw,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
MC5,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
D'Angelo,
Prince Buster,
Quadrant,
T.S.O.L.,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Drexciya,
Todd Rundgren,
Barbara Tucker,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Byron Stingily,
Motorama,
The Invisible,
Ultra Naté,
The Golliwogs,
The Kinks,
The Neon Judgement,
Laurel Aitken,
New Order,
Q65,
K-Klass,
Pantytec,
KRS-One,
Erasure,
Donny Hathaway,
Fort Wilson Riot,
The Human League,
Fugazi,
Fear,
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.