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 South Sudan and from Jakarta.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Neu! show in Düsseldorf.
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 1968 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Houston.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Edmonton 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 guitar 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 Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam to the electroclash kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Donald Byrd. All the underground hits.
All Fad Gadget tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Bobby Hutcherson 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a rhodes and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Boogie Down Productions record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Skatalites,
Vainqueur,
K-Klass,
Gong,
Pole,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Gerry Rafferty,
Black Moon,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Flamin' Groovies,
Mission of Burma,
Faraquet,
Quadrant,
Tom Boy,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Dawn Penn,
The Walker Brothers,
Freddie Wadling,
The Cowsills,
Todd Rundgren,
Warsaw,
Blake Baxter,
Ossler,
Kurtis Blow,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Minny Pops,
The Smiths,
Public Enemy,
Connie Case,
The Offenders,
Nirvana,
Yusef Lateef,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Quando Quango,
Lakeside,
Gabor Szabo,
Gichy Dan,
The Knickerbockers,
The Selecter,
Surgeon,
Anthony Braxton,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
The Motions,
Dennis Brown,
The Toasters,
Grandmaster Flash,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Schoolly D,
Marshall Jefferson,
Dead Boys,
This Heat,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Marvin Gaye,
The Black Dice,
Cal Tjader,
Alphaville,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Pantytec,
Crispian St. Peters,
Jeru the Damaja,
Cecil Taylor,
Colin Newman, Colin Newman, Colin Newman, Colin Newman.
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.