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 Spain and from Shanghai.
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 1964 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lyon and Portland.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Bologna 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 808 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 Average White Band to the punk 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 Zapp. All the underground hits.
All Strawberry Alarm Clock tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every La Düsseldorf 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Panda Bear record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The J.B.'s,
Throbbing Gristle,
John Holt,
Ludus,
Animal Collective,
The Music Machine,
Easy Going,
Amon Düül II,
Funkadelic,
The Dead C,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Dawn Penn,
Quadrant,
Faust,
Barclay James Harvest,
Bobby Byrd,
Panda Bear,
Ohio Players,
The Trojans,
PIL,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Jimmy McGriff,
Jacques Brel,
Skaos,
The Black Dice,
The Smoke,
Sandy B,
Tom Boy,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
James White and The Blacks,
Supertramp,
The Red Krayola,
Rakim,
The Sound,
The Kinks,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Soft Cell,
Guru Guru,
L. Decosne,
Oneida,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Curtis Mayfield,
David Axelrod,
Kenny Larkin,
Half Japanese,
Shuggie Otis,
Soul II Soul,
Funky Four + One,
Black Flag,
Joe Smooth,
Roger Hodgson,
Bill Near,
Marvin Gaye,
Moebius,
Echospace,
Newcleus,
Crooked Eye,
The Fall,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Brand Nubian,
Grey Daturas,
Moss Icon, Moss Icon, Moss Icon, Moss Icon.
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.