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 Comoros and from Manila.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Chic show in New York.
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 1962 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Stockholm and Bremen.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Paris 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 1973 at the first Television practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the arpeggiator 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 Hoover to the rap kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Brand Nubian. All the underground hits.
All Byron Stingily tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Gang Green 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Offenders record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Scientists,
Josef K,
Jandek,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Motorama,
Mad Mike,
Robert Hood,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Donny Hathaway,
The Litter,
Grauzone,
Stereo Dub,
Ossler,
Blossom Toes,
Archie Shepp,
Radiohead,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Dorothy Ashby,
Japan,
Danielle Patucci,
Steve Hackett,
The United States of America,
Jeff Mills,
John Foxx,
Brass Construction,
The Monochrome Set,
Tim Buckley,
The Wake,
Big Daddy Kane,
Lee Hazlewood,
La Düsseldorf,
Rites of Spring,
Barbara Tucker,
Ronnie Foster,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Delta 5,
Crispian St. Peters,
Y Pants,
Excepter,
The Last Poets,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Moby Grape,
Nik Kershaw,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
the Human League,
Fatback Band,
Model 500,
Brick,
Kayak,
Masters at Work,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
The Sound,
the Bar-Kays,
Todd Rundgren,
Patti Smith,
The Sisters of Mercy,
The Gun Club,
Scrapy,
Yaz,
Minnie Riperton, Minnie Riperton, Minnie Riperton, Minnie Riperton.
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.