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 Cyprus and from Delhi.
But I was there.
I was there in 1967.
I was there at the first Rodriguez show in Detroit.
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 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Halifax.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Beijing 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 arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Reagan Youth to the techno kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Martian. All the underground hits.
All Man Eating Sloth tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Marshall Jefferson record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz 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 an arpeggiator and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a This Heat record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
X-Ray Spex,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Fad Gadget,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Underground Resistance,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
The Slits,
the Germs,
10cc,
Urselle,
Bush Tetras,
Jerry's Kids,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Agent Orange,
Mandrill,
Maurizio,
Theoretical Girls,
Niagra,
Lalann,
Livin' Joy,
Quando Quango,
Delta 5,
The Durutti Column,
Dorothy Ashby,
Ultimate Spinach,
Gang Green,
The Zeros,
F. McDonald,
The Mojo Men,
Jandek,
Ossler,
Joe Finger,
Shuggie Otis,
The Knickerbockers,
The Busters,
Soul II Soul,
Babytalk,
Lindisfarne,
Donny Hathaway,
Lou Reed,
Sparks,
Ohio Players,
Technova,
In Retrospect,
Fluxion,
The Moody Blues,
The Selecter,
Mars,
The Fugs,
The Leaves,
Oblivians,
Eric B and Rakim,
Matthew Halsall,
The Gladiators,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Wings,
Rhythm & Sound,
China Crisis,
Aswad, Aswad, Aswad, Aswad.
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.