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 Pakistan and from Philadelphia.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Zapp show in Hamilton.
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 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and Columbus.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Winnipeg 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 1971 at the first Selda practice in a loft in Istanbul.
I was working on the 808 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 Boz Scaggs to the disco 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 Terry Callier. All the underground hits.
All Bang on a Can All-Stars tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Fall record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a rhodes and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Man Parrish record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a spring reverb.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Drive Like Jehu,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Curtis Mayfield,
John Foxx,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Cymande,
Tropical Tobacco,
Prince Buster,
Chris Corsano,
The Techniques,
Gil Scott Heron,
Bad Manners,
Franke,
Sonny Sharrock,
Jawbox,
Jacob Miller,
Sun City Girls,
Alton Ellis,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Gong,
Mars,
Avey Tare,
Simply Red,
Boredoms,
Crime,
Ultravox,
Livin' Joy,
The Doors,
The Music Machine,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Kevin Saunderson,
Main Source,
Hot Snakes,
Bobby Hutcherson,
The Neon Judgement,
Bauhaus,
Byron Stingily,
UT,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Bronski Beat,
Magma,
The Index,
Public Image Ltd.,
cv313,
Banda Bassotti,
Rod Modell,
Flash Fearless,
The Barracudas,
The Offenders,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
The Smiths,
Fela Kuti,
Graham Central Station,
Warsaw,
Ronnie Foster,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Idris Muhammad,
Ornette Coleman,
Skarface,
Technova, Technova, Technova, Technova.
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.