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 Tonga and from Bremen.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Soft Boys show in Cambridge.
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 1963 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Jakarta and Lille.
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 1967 at the first Rodriguez practice in a loft in Detroit.
I was working on the theremin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Index to the grime 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 The Blackbyrds. All the underground hits.
All Bobby Womack tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Lonnie Liston Smith record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The United States of America record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Terrestrial Tones,
Sixth Finger,
Ultra Naté,
Los Fastidios,
Malaria!,
The Litter,
Johnny Clarke,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
The Cramps,
The Golliwogs,
Brand Nubian,
Lalann,
A Certain Ratio,
Cecil Taylor,
The Durutti Column,
These Immortal Souls,
Panda Bear,
This Heat,
The Selecter,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Graham Central Station,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Siglo XX,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
The Monks,
The Residents,
Intrusion,
Sister Nancy,
Banda Bassotti,
Gil Scott Heron,
Franke,
Wire,
David Axelrod,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Fugazi,
Grey Daturas,
Peter & Gordon,
Minny Pops,
Ludus,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Arcadia,
F. McDonald,
Davy DMX,
Lebanon Hanover,
Vainqueur,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
Chrome,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
The Raincoats,
Moebius,
Con Funk Shun,
Jeru the Damaja,
Pere Ubu,
Cameo,
Saccharine Trust,
Jimmy McGriff,
The Stooges,
The Human League,
Parry Music,
Silicon Teens,
Technova,
Moby Grape,
Rosa Yemen, Rosa Yemen, Rosa Yemen, Rosa Yemen.
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.