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 East Timor and from Lagos.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Big Star show in Memphis.
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 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Sao Paulo and Jakarta.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school New York 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 1976 at the first Chic practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the guitar 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 The Sound to the techno kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark. All the underground hits.
All Bang on a Can All-Stars tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Surgeon record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Names record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Selecter,
Jacques Brel,
the Fania All-Stars,
Boogie Down Productions,
Drive Like Jehu,
Ten City,
Brick,
Jerry's Kids,
Jeff Lynne,
Minny Pops,
Frankie Knuckles,
OOIOO,
E-Dancer,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Bobby Sherman,
The Pop Group,
The Busters,
Soul II Soul,
The J.B.'s,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Dave Gahan,
Rod Modell,
Radio Birdman,
Wire,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Kaleidoscope,
The Vogues,
Vladislav Delay,
James White and The Blacks,
Desert Stars,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
The Gap Band,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
The Residents,
The Dave Clark Five,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Albert Ayler,
Arab on Radar,
Nick Fraelich,
The Invisible,
Harry Pussy,
Darondo,
Yazoo,
The Sound,
Motorama,
Black Flag,
Steve Hackett,
Second Layer,
Barry Ungar,
Soul Sonic Force,
K-Klass,
The Fall,
Howard Jones,
Skarface,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
John Coltrane,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Robert Görl,
Lightning Bolt,
DNA, DNA, DNA, DNA.
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.