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 Botswana and from Salvador.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Josef K show in Edinburgh.
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 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mexico City and London.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Taipei 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 oboe sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 The Divine Comedy 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 Crime. All the underground hits.
All Gil Scott Heron tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Joyce Sims 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Hashim record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Aaron Thompson,
Interpol,
Traffic Nightmare,
Bob Dylan,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Thompson Twins,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Babytalk,
Porter Ricks,
Cecil Taylor,
The Cowsills,
The Detroit Cobras,
The Human League,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
The Barracudas,
The Real Kids,
Steve Hackett,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
New Age Steppers,
Wire,
Supertramp,
Lungfish,
The Dead C,
The Gladiators,
John Lydon,
Byron Stingily,
Jeff Lynne,
Quando Quango,
Reagan Youth,
Wings,
Eli Mardock,
Groovy Waters,
Tres Demented,
The Grass Roots,
Agent Orange,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Organ,
The Names,
X-102,
Altered Images,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Soul II Soul,
Index,
Pylon,
The Searchers,
Yellowson,
Mad Mike,
Judy Mowatt,
The Litter,
the Fania All-Stars,
The Sound,
Black Sheep,
Rosa Yemen,
Glambeats Corp.,
Chrome,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Lalo Schifrin,
Ludus,
Soft Machine, Soft Machine, Soft Machine, Soft Machine.
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.