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 Bulgaria and from Shanghai.
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 1963 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Salvador and Stockholm.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Mexico City 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 1987 at the first Nirvana practice in a loft in Seattle.
I was working on the synthesizer sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Kurtis Blow to the grunge kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Eli Mardock. All the underground hits.
All Bang on a Can All-Stars tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Sugar Minott record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash 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 guitar and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Porter Ricks 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 Litter,
Cecil Taylor,
Rod Modell,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Glambeats Corp.,
ABC,
Y Pants,
Ronan,
Boogie Down Productions,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Hot Snakes,
Rhythm & Sound,
The Doors,
The Walker Brothers,
The Red Krayola,
Derrick May,
Mark Hollis,
Vladislav Delay,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Public Image Ltd.,
CMW,
Curtis Mayfield,
Gang Gang Dance,
Kool Moe Dee,
The Knickerbockers,
Dave Gahan,
Pussy Galore,
Unrelated Segments,
Skarface,
Andrew Hill,
Stockholm Monsters,
David Bowie,
Marcia Griffiths,
Quando Quango,
Funky Four + One,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Ludus,
Deepchord,
Metal Thangz,
John Lydon,
the Sonics,
Fat Boys,
Rakim,
Scrapy,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Crime,
Moby Grape,
Ponytail,
Young Marble Giants,
Davy DMX,
Nick Fraelich,
The Slits,
Ultravox,
Alphaville,
Jandek,
Alison Limerick,
Donny Hathaway,
Brothers Johnson,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Lower 48,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Be Bop Deluxe,
The Chocolate Watch Band, The Chocolate Watch Band, The Chocolate Watch Band, The Chocolate Watch Band.
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.