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 Sierra Leone and from Cairo.
But I was there.
I was there in 1980.
I was there at the first Cybotron show in Detroit.
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 Stockholm and Seoul.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Portland 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 clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 The Chocolate Watch Band to the dance kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Bang on a Can All-Stars. All the underground hits.
All Rosa Yemen tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Blake Baxter 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Sonics record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Ken Boothe,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Harpers Bizarre,
Simply Red,
Nation of Ulysses,
Swell Maps,
U.S. Maple,
Crime,
The Trojans,
Throbbing Gristle,
Ten City,
Pantytec,
Erykah Badu,
Lebanon Hanover,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Cecil Taylor,
Dennis Brown,
Gil Scott Heron,
Quando Quango,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Aswad,
Joyce Sims,
48th St. Collective,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
The Real Kids,
The Dirtbombs,
Mr. Review,
Quantec,
Saccharine Trust,
Bronski Beat,
Index,
K-Klass,
The Black Dice,
Radio Birdman,
Carl Craig,
Popol Vuh,
The Offenders,
MDC,
Cameo,
Pharoah Sanders,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Hardrive,
Johnny Clarke,
Skriet,
Alphaville,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Franke,
Minnie Riperton,
Supertramp,
Tropical Tobacco,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Sex Pistols,
Terry Callier,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
OOIOO,
Stiv Bators,
DJ Style,
Kenny Larkin,
Joy Division,
Lou Reed,
EPMD, EPMD, EPMD, EPMD.
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.