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 Togo and from Spokane.
But I was there.
I was there in 1984.
I was there at the first Arcadia show in London.
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 Hong Kong and Philadelphia.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Paris 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 mellotron sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Organ to the funk kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Country Joe & The Fish. All the underground hits.
All Rahsaan Roland Kirk tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Johnny Osbourne record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a mellotron and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Dorothy Ashby record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Barry Ungar,
Cecil Taylor,
Rakim,
Flipper,
Michelle Simonal,
Monolake,
Ponytail,
Mo-Dettes,
Donny Hathaway,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Von Mondo,
Sugar Minott,
Audionom,
Minnie Riperton,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Second Layer,
Faust,
Visage,
B.T. Express,
Thompson Twins,
KRS-One,
The Seeds,
Pere Ubu,
The Cramps,
Arthur Verocai,
Hasil Adkins,
Frankie Knuckles,
Harmonia,
Barbara Tucker,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Rod Modell,
Dead Boys,
Pagans,
Lower 48,
The Birthday Party,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Lindisfarne,
R.M.O.,
Circle Jerks,
Subhumans,
Bluetip,
Oneida,
Chrome,
Slave,
Man Eating Sloth,
Matthew Halsall,
EPMD,
FM Einheit,
One Last Wish,
Josef K,
Interpol,
Young Marble Giants,
Echospace,
Buzzcocks,
Soulsonic Force,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Archie Shepp,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Television Personalities,
Ossler,
Bad Manners,
The Zeros,
Warsaw, Warsaw, Warsaw, Warsaw.
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.