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 Vietnam and from Bremen.
But I was there.
I was there in 1980.
I was there at the first Cybotron show in Detroit.
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 1963 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Glasgow and Lyon.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Calgary 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 marimba 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 Joe Smooth to the funk 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 Liaisons Dangereuses. All the underground hits.
All Thinking Fellers Union Local 282 tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Subhumans 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 '90s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Drexciya record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Soul II Soul,
Johnny Clarke,
Brass Construction,
The Techniques,
Average White Band,
Boogie Down Productions,
Ralphi Rosario,
Iggy Pop,
Nico,
Thompson Twins,
Ossler,
Index,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Yusef Lateef,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
The Five Americans,
Anakelly,
The Sonics,
Wire,
Cheater Slicks,
The Motions,
Moby Grape,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Lungfish,
Inner City,
Sun Ra,
Pylon,
Prince Buster,
Rosa Yemen,
Fluxion,
Lakeside,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Bizarre Inc.,
The Fortunes,
Minny Pops,
Soulsonic Force,
the Normal,
The New Christs,
Hot Snakes,
The Walker Brothers,
The Residents,
Essential Logic,
the Human League,
Josef K,
China Crisis,
cv313,
Rhythm & Sound,
Archie Shepp,
The J.B.'s,
Sarah Menescal,
John Foxx,
Half Japanese,
Mandrill,
The Modern Lovers,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Scratch Acid,
Idris Muhammad,
Fatback Band,
Dark Day,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Chris Corsano,
Joe Finger,
Crispian St. Peters, Crispian St. Peters, Crispian St. Peters, Crispian St. Peters.
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.