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 Ghana and from Philadelphia.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Neu! show in Düsseldorf.
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 1969 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and Portland.
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 1987 at the first Nirvana practice in a loft in Seattle.
I was working on the clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Ice-T to the electroclash 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 Ralphi Rosario. All the underground hits.
All Black Sheep tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Letta Mbulu 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a snare and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a John Coltrane record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Blossom Toes,
Accadde A,
Dead Boys,
The Kinks,
The Human League,
Junior Murvin,
Model 500,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Juan Atkins,
Carl Craig,
Throbbing Gristle,
Absolute Body Control,
Judy Mowatt,
Shoche,
Essential Logic,
Von Mondo,
La Düsseldorf,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Arab on Radar,
Connie Case,
Colin Newman,
The Saints,
Warren Ellis,
Scott Walker,
Tres Demented,
Country Teasers,
Eric Dolphy,
Davy DMX,
Mark Hollis,
X-Ray Spex,
Lindisfarne,
The Leaves,
Loose Ends,
Alice Coltrane,
Gabor Szabo,
Wally Richardson,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
The Trojans,
Godley & Creme,
Curtis Mayfield,
David Axelrod,
The Standells,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
The Angels of Light,
Urselle,
Procol Harum,
Agent Orange,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
CMW,
Qualms,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Terry Callier,
Bill Wells,
the Bar-Kays,
Q65,
Animal Collective,
Sound Behaviour,
Stiv Bators,
A Certain Ratio,
The Toasters, The Toasters, The Toasters, The Toasters.
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.