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 Mozambique and from Taipei.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Feelies show in Haledon.
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 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Edmonton and Delhi.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Johannesburg 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 2001 at the first Tiga practice in a loft in Montreal.
I was working on the organ 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 Archie Shepp to the grime kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Mad Mike. All the underground hits.
All Eve St. Jones tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Livin' Joy record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Cosmic Jokers record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Joyce Sims,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
F. McDonald,
Skarface,
Donny Hathaway,
Marvin Gaye,
Tomorrow,
Nick Fraelich,
PIL,
Deepchord,
E-Dancer,
Intrusion,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
The Moody Blues,
Boogie Down Productions,
The Gladiators,
Little Man,
MC5,
D'Angelo,
The Golliwogs,
The Evens,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
the Sonics,
Judy Mowatt,
Surgeon,
The Durutti Column,
Gabor Szabo,
Suicide,
The Angels of Light,
Fela Kuti,
Dead Boys,
Curtis Mayfield,
Agent Orange,
Davy DMX,
Procol Harum,
Yazoo,
Q and Not U,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Jeff Lynne,
X-Ray Spex,
Rapeman,
Siglo XX,
The Selecter,
Gerry Rafferty,
Bronski Beat,
Brass Construction,
The Five Americans,
Absolute Body Control,
The Slits,
Rotary Connection,
a-ha,
Byron Stingily,
The Slackers,
Glambeats Corp.,
The Cowsills,
Agitation Free,
Morten Harket,
Clear Light,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
The Sound,
Bizarre Inc.,
Dennis Brown,
Second Layer, Second Layer, Second Layer, Second Layer.
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.