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 Ghana and from Sao Paulo.
But I was there.
I was there in 1970.
I was there at the first Onyeabor show in Enugu.
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 1961 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Calgary and Lagos.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Calgary 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 theremin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Bobby Byrd to the grunge 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 Glambeats Corp.. All the underground hits.
All Wire tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Pantytec record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Smog record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Flash Fearless,
Los Fastidios,
The Cosmic Jokers,
The Associates,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Von Mondo,
Technova,
Suburban Knight,
Bronski Beat,
the Slits,
Bauhaus,
Jacob Miller,
Avey Tare,
Bootsy Collins,
Gregory Isaacs,
John Foxx,
R.M.O.,
Supertramp,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Johnny Osbourne,
Flamin' Groovies,
Warren Ellis,
cv313,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
The Smoke,
Dead Boys,
Todd Rundgren,
Qualms,
Crispian St. Peters,
Fad Gadget,
Freddie Wadling,
The Offenders,
The Electric Prunes,
Unwound,
Neu!,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Rakim,
Bill Wells,
The Human League,
Barbara Tucker,
Dual Sessions,
The Happenings,
Gerry Rafferty,
Eddi Front,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Dave Gahan,
Lightning Bolt,
Das Ding,
Whodini,
T. Rex,
Can,
Arthur Verocai,
The Durutti Column,
The Trojans,
Don Cherry,
The Pop Group,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Eli Mardock,
Kaleidoscope,
The Sonics,
Index,
Marmalade, Marmalade, Marmalade, Marmalade.
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.