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 Houston.
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 1968 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Salvador and Delhi.
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 1977 at the first Mistral practice in a loft in Amsterdam.
I was working on the marimba 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 Harry Pussy to the grunge 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 The Cosmic Jokers. All the underground hits.
All James Chance & The Contortions tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Monks record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a John Lydon record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Warren Ellis,
Matthew Halsall,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Alice Coltrane,
Arcadia,
Eve St. Jones,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Pagans,
Brass Construction,
DJ Sneak,
Wasted Youth,
Chrome,
Bill Near,
Nation of Ulysses,
Cheater Slicks,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Vainqueur,
Zapp,
Pulsallama,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Donald Byrd,
Mary Jane Girls,
Easy Going,
Television,
Chris & Cosey,
A Certain Ratio,
The Tremeloes,
Johnny Osbourne,
Donny Hathaway,
Tom Boy,
Delon & Dalcan,
The Pretty Things,
Fugazi,
Crispian St. Peters,
Ludus,
The Fugs,
Bizarre Inc.,
Sarah Menescal,
Hot Snakes,
Eli Mardock,
Harpers Bizarre,
Tears for Fears,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
DNA,
La Düsseldorf,
Roy Ayers,
Boogie Down Productions,
Quadrant,
T.S.O.L.,
Minny Pops,
Amazonics,
Schoolly D,
Scratch Acid,
Amon Düül II,
Fatback Band,
The United States of America,
Spoonie Gee,
Kas Product,
Dorothy Ashby,
Jacques Brel,
Ultimate Spinach,
Pierre Henry,
The Standells, The Standells, The Standells, The Standells.
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.