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 Papua New Guinea and from Taipei.
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 1968 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Delhi and Bologna.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Beijing 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 1967 at the first Rodriguez practice in a loft in Detroit.
I was working on the harpsichord 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 Fatback Band to the rap 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 Rapeman. All the underground hits.
All Terry Callier tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Joyce Sims record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a spring reverb.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Television,
Fat Boys,
Trumans Water,
the Slits,
K-Klass,
Kool Moe Dee,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Derrick May,
Barbara Tucker,
The Cramps,
Avey Tare,
UT,
Josef K,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Desert Stars,
David Bowie,
DJ Sneak,
Can,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Black Flag,
Swell Maps,
Qualms,
DNA,
Darondo,
The Flesh Eaters,
Grandmaster Flash,
Crooked Eye,
Amon Düül II,
Subhumans,
World's Most,
Y Pants,
Sarah Menescal,
Sexual Harrassment,
Q65,
Delta 5,
Motorama,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Marine Girls,
Aural Exciters,
The Mummies,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
One Last Wish,
New Order,
Neu!,
David Axelrod,
The Dead C,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Crispy Ambulance,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Ultimate Spinach,
The J.B.'s,
Minor Threat,
Essential Logic,
Don Cherry,
Mantronix,
Tom Boy,
John Lydon,
The Slackers,
Bill Near, Bill Near, Bill Near, Bill Near.
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.