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 Ireland and from Edmonton.
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 1969 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manchester and Hong Kong.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manila 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 harpsichord 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 Oneida to the crunk kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Joe Smooth. All the underground hits.
All The Buckinghams tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every London Community Gospel Choir 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Last Poets record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Gladiators,
Sonic Youth,
Organ,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Adolescents,
Archie Shepp,
Pulsallama,
Donald Byrd,
Peter and Kerry,
B.T. Express,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Hardrive,
Joensuu 1685,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
E-Dancer,
Audionom,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Masters at Work,
Saccharine Trust,
ABC,
Jeru the Damaja,
Subhumans,
JFA,
The Smiths,
Joe Finger,
Johnny Clarke,
Second Layer,
The Associates,
Stereo Dub,
Bobby Womack,
the Soft Cell,
Das Ding,
Jerry's Kids,
Gang of Four,
Lindisfarne,
Ludus,
Brick,
Glambeats Corp.,
Matthew Halsall,
Depeche Mode,
Ohio Players,
Easy Going,
Blossom Toes,
Qualms,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
OOIOO,
Sound Behaviour,
Johnny Osbourne,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Jesper Dahlback,
Yaz,
Fatback Band,
Leonard Cohen,
L. Decosne,
Gichy Dan,
John Foxx,
Big Daddy Kane,
The Five Americans,
The Detroit Cobras,
The Dead C, The Dead C, The Dead C, The Dead C.
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.