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 Czech Republic and from Bologna.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Soft Boys show in Cambridge.
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 1966 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Taipei and Shanghai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Copenhagen 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 Lou Reed 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 EPMD to the jazz 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 Iggy Pop. All the underground hits.
All Charles Mingus tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Godley & Creme record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Mantronix record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Ice-T,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
The Remains,
the Slits,
The Cramps,
Massinfluence,
Wire,
Soul II Soul,
Stereo Dub,
The Fugs,
Nick Fraelich,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Marmalade,
Steve Hackett,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
The Smoke,
Roxy Music,
Scan 7,
Andrew Hill,
Gang Starr,
Pharoah Sanders,
Parry Music,
Crooked Eye,
Kurtis Blow,
Terrestrial Tones,
Youth Brigade,
Robert Görl,
John Cale,
The Shadows of Knight,
Leonard Cohen,
PIL,
Black Moon,
Michelle Simonal,
Godley & Creme,
Rod Modell,
Rotary Connection,
Throbbing Gristle,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Soft Machine,
Boredoms,
Brick,
The United States of America,
The Cure,
the Fania All-Stars,
B.T. Express,
Quando Quango,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Fugazi,
John Foxx,
Fatback Band,
Jesper Dahlback,
Kerri Chandler,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Tim Buckley,
Carl Craig,
Franke,
Ornette Coleman,
Patti Smith,
Barrington Levy,
Hoover, Hoover, Hoover, Hoover.
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.