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 Nicaragua and from Accra.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Feelies show in Haledon.
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 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Salvador and Milan.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Jakarta 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 1962 at the first Guess Who practice in a loft in Winnipeg.
I was working on the clarinet 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 Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five to the funk 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 Marvin Gaye. All the underground hits.
All Derrick May tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Bang on a Can All-Stars record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Slits record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Fluxion,
Ludus,
Funky Four + One,
The United States of America,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Ash Ra Tempel,
The Fall,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
MC5,
The Shadows of Knight,
Symarip,
Swans,
B.T. Express,
Reuben Wilson,
Aaron Thompson,
Tropical Tobacco,
Masters at Work,
Ten City,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
The Durutti Column,
Jimmy McGriff,
The Buckinghams,
Stereo Dub,
Shuggie Otis,
The Busters,
Fela Kuti,
the Slits,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Marvin Gaye,
The Divine Comedy,
The Fortunes,
La Düsseldorf,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Cecil Taylor,
Darondo,
Boredoms,
Joe Smooth,
Skaos,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Black Moon,
Wasted Youth,
Depeche Mode,
Barbara Tucker,
Radio Birdman,
The Victims,
The Raincoats,
Essential Logic,
Brick,
Leonard Cohen,
Kerrie Biddell,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
The Neon Judgement,
Bootsy Collins,
Alice Coltrane,
Lucky Dragons,
James White and The Blacks,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Todd Terry,
Underground Resistance,
Thompson Twins,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Bootsy's Rubber Band, Bootsy's Rubber Band, Bootsy's Rubber Band, Bootsy's Rubber Band.
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.