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 Sweden and from Edmonton.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Chic show in New York.
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 1969 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in London and Bremen.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 808 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 The Last Poets to the techno 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 Sun Ra Arkestra. All the underground hits.
All Harry Pussy tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Barracudas record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Alison Limerick record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Joy Division,
The Knickerbockers,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Stiv Bators,
Fugazi,
Robert Wyatt,
The Dave Clark Five,
The Techniques,
The Invisible,
Colin Newman,
Sun Ra,
Bizarre Inc.,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Anthony Braxton,
Magazine,
Tropical Tobacco,
Terrestrial Tones,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Toni Rubio,
Pet Shop Boys,
Sound Behaviour,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Joyce Sims,
Gichy Dan,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Buzzcocks,
Y Pants,
L. Decosne,
Minnie Riperton,
The Pop Group,
Oblivians,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Lalann,
Vainqueur,
Beasts of Bourbon,
ABC,
The Count Five,
The Five Americans,
Michelle Simonal,
Grauzone,
Sarah Menescal,
Barry Ungar,
Essential Logic,
Brick,
Eddi Front,
Negative Approach,
Joe Smooth,
Tom Boy,
The Searchers,
Marshall Jefferson,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
James Chance & The Contortions,
The Last Poets,
Gang Green,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Sun City Girls,
Drive Like Jehu,
Wasted Youth,
The Zeros,
Smog, Smog, Smog, Smog.
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.