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 St Lucia and from Milan.
But I was there.
I was there in 1968.
I was there at the first Can show in Cologne.
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 1960 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Delhi and Paris.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Johannesburg 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 güiro 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 Hasil Adkins to the funk kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Public Enemy. All the underground hits.
All Mars tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Rekid record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a rhodes 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 guitar and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Rekid,
Monolake,
Connie Case,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
La Düsseldorf,
Throbbing Gristle,
Pantaleimon,
Section 25,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Slave,
Robert Hood,
Sun Ra,
Franke,
The J.B.'s,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
48th St. Collective,
John Holt,
Jacob Miller,
Max Romeo,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Lou Christie,
Kool Moe Dee,
Byron Stingily,
Rhythm & Sound,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Alton Ellis,
Popol Vuh,
the Fania All-Stars,
Marmalade,
Vladislav Delay,
The Leaves,
Boogie Down Productions,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Rakim,
Tubeway Army,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Model 500,
Faraquet,
Laurel Aitken,
Con Funk Shun,
Kerri Chandler,
Ken Boothe,
Sparks,
Joyce Sims,
Aural Exciters,
Cameo,
Malaria!,
The Last Poets,
The Slackers,
Sun City Girls,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Letta Mbulu,
Howard Jones,
Eric Dolphy,
The Durutti Column,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Faust,
Circle Jerks,
Slick Rick,
Josef K,
Can,
Sex Pistols,
Theoretical Girls, Theoretical Girls, Theoretical Girls, Theoretical Girls.
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.