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 Zambia and from London.
But I was there.
I was there in 1973.
I was there at the first Television 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 1962 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Johannesburg and Salvador.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Paris 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 1976 at the first Feelies practice in a loft in Haledon.
I was working on the sitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Liaisons Dangereuses to the rap kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Boz Scaggs. All the underground hits.
All The Shadows of Knight tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Larry & the Blue Notes record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Patti Smith record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Circle Jerks,
Second Layer,
Faust,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Chris & Cosey,
Fela Kuti,
Max Romeo,
Reuben Wilson,
Sun Ra,
Suicide,
Bauhaus,
Rotary Connection,
Shoche,
Maleditus Sound,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Nik Kershaw,
Marmalade,
Bronski Beat,
Blancmange,
Can,
Donald Byrd,
Throbbing Gristle,
Gang Starr,
AZ,
Jeru the Damaja,
Interpol,
Donny Hathaway,
A Certain Ratio,
Jacques Brel,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Cal Tjader,
Mary Jane Girls,
Juan Atkins,
Cecil Taylor,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
PIL,
Kool Moe Dee,
Neu!,
The Golliwogs,
Albert Ayler,
Cybotron,
Colin Newman,
Icehouse,
Cabaret Voltaire,
F. McDonald,
The Buckinghams,
The Victims,
DJ Style,
Ludus,
Urselle,
New Age Steppers,
The Gap Band,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Carl Craig,
Black Pus,
Skriet,
The Offenders,
Sex Pistols,
Sight & Sound,
KRS-One,
Man Eating Sloth,
Patti Smith, Patti Smith, Patti Smith, Patti Smith.
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.