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 Egypt and from Mexico City.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Mistral show in Amsterdam.
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 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lille and Mumbai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Bologna 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 arpeggiator 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 Mr. Review to the dance kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra. All the underground hits.
All Alice Coltrane tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Eric B and Rakim record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge 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 clarinet and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Lalo Schifrin record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Funky Four + One,
Alton Ellis,
In Retrospect,
Easy Going,
Lindisfarne,
Sister Nancy,
Simply Red,
Severed Heads,
Ludus,
John Holt,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
The Offenders,
The United States of America,
James Chance & The Contortions,
The Motions,
Wings,
Colin Newman,
The Count Five,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
EPMD,
The Angels of Light,
June Days,
Hot Snakes,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
Schoolly D,
Visage,
The Names,
Excepter,
Qualms,
Rufus Thomas,
the Association,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Dead Boys,
Interpol,
The Trojans,
Steve Hackett,
DNA,
The Sound,
Pussy Galore,
Rites of Spring,
The Slackers,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
The Misunderstood,
Livin' Joy,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Joey Negro,
the Sonics,
Khruangbin,
Sun City Girls,
Fela Kuti,
Sixth Finger,
Funkadelic,
The Residents,
Avey Tare,
Gang Gang Dance,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Little Man,
Dorothy Ashby,
Fatback Band,
La Düsseldorf,
The Slits,
Lyres, Lyres, Lyres, Lyres.
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.