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 Kenya and from Lyon.
But I was there.
I was there in 1980.
I was there at the first Cybotron show in Detroit.
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 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Beijing and Madrid.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Taipei 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 1967 at the first Rodriguez practice in a loft in Detroit.
I was working on the spring reverb 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 Fela Kuti to the disco kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 The Velvet Underground. All the underground hits.
All Q and Not U tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every DJ Style record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk 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 a güiro and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The United States of America record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Brothers Johnson,
Urselle,
Rufus Thomas,
Malaria!,
The Cramps,
Monks,
Duran Duran,
Siglo XX,
Robert Wyatt,
JFA,
John Lydon,
Public Enemy,
Camouflage,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Todd Terry,
Faraquet,
Inner City,
Tom Boy,
Au Pairs,
Aswad,
The Fortunes,
Barrington Levy,
Cecil Taylor,
Scion,
The Five Americans,
Delon & Dalcan,
The Walker Brothers,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Slick Rick,
The Detroit Cobras,
Ludus,
Sun City Girls,
Monolake,
UT,
John Foxx,
Von Mondo,
Terry Callier,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Jeff Mills,
10cc,
Eddi Front,
Kayak,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Deepchord,
Nirvana,
The Invisible,
Babytalk,
The Smiths,
Scrapy,
Ultimate Spinach,
Electric Prunes,
Camberwell Now,
Toni Rubio,
Anthony Braxton,
Joe Smooth,
The Star Department,
KRS-One,
Gang Starr,
The Black Dice,
Sexual Harrassment,
Ornette Coleman,
The Skatalites, The Skatalites, The Skatalites, The Skatalites.
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.