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 El Salvador and from Tokyo.
But I was there.
I was there in 1965.
I was there at the first Beefheart show in Lancaster.
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 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Jakarta and Tokyo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lille 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 1973 at the first Television practice in a loft in New York.
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 Spoonie Gee to the dance kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 The Neon Judgement. All the underground hits.
All Joy Division tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Gang of Four record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a rhodes and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Dawn Penn record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Sun Ra,
Moss Icon,
Brand Nubian,
Technova,
Ossler,
Scientists,
Mantronix,
Radio Birdman,
Bobby Byrd,
Erasure,
The Last Poets,
Harmonia,
The Monks,
Isaac Hayes,
LL Cool J,
The Vogues,
Cybotron,
Crispy Ambulance,
Grandmaster Flash,
Frankie Knuckles,
Loose Ends,
Hoover,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Yaz,
Symarip,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Joy Division,
MC5,
Pole,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Gabor Szabo,
Todd Terry,
Aural Exciters,
U.S. Maple,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Arthur Verocai,
In Retrospect,
Patti Smith,
The Birthday Party,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
The Associates,
Minor Threat,
Magma,
Altered Images,
Bizarre Inc.,
The Knickerbockers,
The American Breed,
The Remains,
Delta 5,
Camouflage,
the Human League,
Interpol,
Chris & Cosey,
Wasted Youth,
Country Joe & The Fish,
The Selecter,
Lebanon Hanover,
the Soft Cell,
Moebius,
Soulsonic Force,
Rufus Thomas,
Jacob Miller,
Sonic Youth, Sonic Youth, Sonic Youth, Sonic Youth.
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.