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 Panama and from Taipei.
But I was there.
I was there in 1975.
I was there at the first Ubu show in Cleveland.
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 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Salvador and Philadelphia.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Jakarta 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 marimba sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Malaria! to the dance kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Dark Day. All the underground hits.
All Grey Daturas tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Cramps record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance 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 harpsichord and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Standells record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
In Retrospect,
Magazine,
The Walker Brothers,
The Selecter,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Saccharine Trust,
Monolake,
The Mummies,
Buzzcocks,
Can,
Funkadelic,
Gerry Rafferty,
Jacob Miller,
The Trojans,
Sun Ra,
Iggy Pop,
X-102,
Kaleidoscope,
Rites of Spring,
Wolf Eyes,
Lebanon Hanover,
Dead Boys,
Jacques Brel,
Johnny Osbourne,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Robert Görl,
The Birthday Party,
Morten Harket,
Matthew Bourne,
Flash Fearless,
Marmalade,
Pole,
Jandek,
Gang Starr,
Crash Course in Science,
Scan 7,
Big Daddy Kane,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
The Seeds,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Mark Hollis,
The Gap Band,
Rosa Yemen,
Juan Atkins,
The Skatalites,
Kevin Saunderson,
Junior Murvin,
Livin' Joy,
The Shadows of Knight,
The Residents,
Drive Like Jehu,
Country Teasers,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Sun City Girls,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Reagan Youth,
Parry Music,
Talk Talk,
The Cure,
Banda Bassotti,
Tommy Roe, Tommy Roe, Tommy Roe, Tommy Roe.
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.