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 Ivory Coast and from Sao Paulo.
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 1963 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Houston and Houston.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 organ sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Ralphi Rosario to the techno kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Circle Jerks. All the underground hits.
All Ohio Players tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Mandrill record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Bobby Byrd record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
John Lydon,
Y Pants,
Lightning Bolt,
Funkadelic,
The Remains,
In Retrospect,
Bad Manners,
Drive Like Jehu,
Kayak,
Camberwell Now,
Minutemen,
Pulsallama,
Robert Görl,
Sandy B,
Cluster,
Lebanon Hanover,
Lee Hazlewood,
The Victims,
JFA,
48th St. Collective,
Joyce Sims,
Q and Not U,
Vainqueur,
Black Flag,
Robert Hood,
Clear Light,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Saccharine Trust,
Joe Smooth,
Little Man,
Bronski Beat,
Banda Bassotti,
Oblivians,
Nick Fraelich,
Moss Icon,
Half Japanese,
The Detroit Cobras,
Chris & Cosey,
Mantronix,
Eli Mardock,
The Kinks,
Bootsy Collins,
Wire,
The Monks,
Sun City Girls,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
The Selecter,
The Flesh Eaters,
Scan 7,
Flash Fearless,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Lalo Schifrin,
Soft Cell,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Heaven 17,
Sparks,
Television Personalities,
Curtis Mayfield,
Negative Approach, Negative Approach, Negative Approach, Negative Approach.
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.