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 Angola and from Lagos.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Second Layer show in South London.
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 1960 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tehran and Portland.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Milan 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 1975 at the first Ubu practice in a loft in Cleveland.
I was working on the theremin 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 Rekid to the funk kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Dennis Brown. All the underground hits.
All Nation of Ulysses tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Gang Starr 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 rhodes and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Patti Smith record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a spring reverb.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Blossom Toes,
The Electric Prunes,
Liliput,
Supertramp,
Johnny Clarke,
Lungfish,
Reagan Youth,
The Golliwogs,
Grandmaster Flash,
The Moleskins,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Rapeman,
Wolf Eyes,
The Beau Brummels,
Grey Daturas,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
ABBA,
The Dirtbombs,
Bobby Byrd,
Ponytail,
Traffic Nightmare,
Be Bop Deluxe,
The Wake,
Japan,
the Soft Cell,
Gang Starr,
Jawbox,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Urselle,
Television Personalities,
Excepter,
Wings,
Todd Rundgren,
Tears for Fears,
Sonic Youth,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Derrick May,
The Grass Roots,
Prince Buster,
Thee Headcoats,
The Fire Engines,
Gichy Dan,
The Detroit Cobras,
Arcadia,
Reuben Wilson,
Average White Band,
Barbara Tucker,
The Star Department,
Matthew Bourne,
The Gap Band,
Au Pairs,
John Holt,
Bill Wells,
Ice-T,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Godley & Creme,
The Last Poets,
Arab on Radar,
Sam Rivers,
Marvin Gaye,
Brass Construction,
Ken Boothe,
Anakelly, Anakelly, Anakelly, Anakelly.
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.