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 Lebanon and from Bremen.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Selda show in Istanbul.
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 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bremen and Lyon.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Halifax 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 Lou Reed 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 Joe Finger to the jazz 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 Slick Rick. All the underground hits.
All Roy Ayers Ubiquity tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Scan 7 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 spring reverb and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Smoke record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Minnie Riperton,
Altered Images,
the Bar-Kays,
The American Breed,
The Happenings,
Sister Nancy,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
One Last Wish,
The Durutti Column,
Con Funk Shun,
Robert Hood,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Ken Boothe,
The Electric Prunes,
Funky Four + One,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Sixth Finger,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Bob Dylan,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Minny Pops,
Buzzcocks,
The Tremeloes,
The Remains,
Metal Thangz,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Neil Young,
Anakelly,
Man Parrish,
The Gap Band,
New Age Steppers,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Gastr Del Sol,
Sun Ra,
Stiv Bators,
Nico,
EPMD,
Von Mondo,
Subhumans,
Tres Demented,
Sight & Sound,
10cc,
Liliput,
Sparks,
Japan,
Alton Ellis,
Sonic Youth,
The Grass Roots,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Agitation Free,
The Five Americans,
Silicon Teens,
Dennis Brown,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Parry Music,
Whodini,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
New York Dolls,
Jacques Brel,
The Gories,
A Certain Ratio, A Certain Ratio, A Certain Ratio, A Certain Ratio.
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.