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 Italy and from Delhi.
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 1962 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Johannesburg and Accra.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Paris 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 Chic practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the mellotron sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Fatback Band to the techno kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Symarip. All the underground hits.
All Tubeway Army tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Procol Harum record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a rhodes and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Leaves record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Japan,
the Germs,
Alphaville,
The Pretty Things,
Brick,
Ralphi Rosario,
The Busters,
The Slackers,
Flash Fearless,
Groovy Waters,
Gerry Rafferty,
The Martian,
The Black Dice,
Black Bananas,
The Names,
Prince Buster,
A Certain Ratio,
The Monochrome Set,
The Gap Band,
Godley & Creme,
Arthur Verocai,
Byron Stingily,
Sonic Youth,
Ohio Players,
Mantronix,
Simply Red,
Flipper,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Livin' Joy,
Kayak,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
Avey Tare,
Lungfish,
The Doors,
Brass Construction,
Adolescents,
Moebius,
the Association,
Black Pus,
Jimmy McGriff,
Angry Samoans,
Moby Grape,
Dark Day,
Nils Olav,
Bad Manners,
Sixth Finger,
Erasure,
Popol Vuh,
The Searchers,
Chris Corsano,
Swell Maps,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Hashim,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
KRS-One,
Matthew Halsall,
E-Dancer,
Barry Ungar,
Ornette Coleman,
Aaron Thompson,
Freddie Wadling,
Slave, Slave, Slave, Slave.
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.