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 Denmark and from Stockholm.
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 1965 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Taipei and Edmonton.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Shanghai 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 Soft Boys practice in a loft in Cambridge.
I was working on the 808 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 Boogie Down Productions to the funk 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 Whodini. All the underground hits.
All The Buckinghams tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Be Bop Deluxe 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a rhodes and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Clear Light record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Dead C,
Theoretical Girls,
the Bar-Kays,
Junior Murvin,
Main Source,
Albert Ayler,
Das Ding,
Nas,
Carl Craig,
Deepchord,
Newcleus,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Peter and Kerry,
Chris & Cosey,
Black Pus,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Prince Buster,
Grandmaster Flash,
Sister Nancy,
Fela Kuti,
the Germs,
Brothers Johnson,
Eli Mardock,
Neu!,
Dennis Brown,
Crash Course in Science,
Rufus Thomas,
Icehouse,
The Index,
Suburban Knight,
Althea and Donna,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
June Days,
The Associates,
The Slits,
Girls At Our Best!,
The Star Department,
Iggy Pop,
Laurel Aitken,
Boz Scaggs,
The Saints,
Boogie Down Productions,
Marvin Gaye,
Gang of Four,
Amazonics,
Malaria!,
Severed Heads,
Loose Ends,
The Blackbyrds,
B.T. Express,
The Martian,
The Velvet Underground,
Bad Manners,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Alton Ellis,
Amon Düül II,
John Cale,
Jeru the Damaja,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Pierre Henry,
FM Einheit,
Wasted Youth,
Rakim,
Harmonia, Harmonia, Harmonia, Harmonia.
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.