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 Seoul.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Selda show in Istanbul.
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 1961 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Sao Paulo and Winnipeg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Seoul 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 clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 the Slits to the jazz kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Vaughan Mason & Crew. All the underground hits.
All Letta Mbulu tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Jandek 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a the Slits record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Fall,
Gang Gang Dance,
Tom Boy,
Lightning Bolt,
Eric B and Rakim,
Black Flag,
Bill Near,
The Angels of Light,
Loose Ends,
Bush Tetras,
Bill Wells,
Black Pus,
The New Christs,
Dorothy Ashby,
Nik Kershaw,
Black Moon,
The Smoke,
Magma,
Talk Talk,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Sixth Finger,
Ponytail,
Junior Murvin,
Con Funk Shun,
Deakin,
Gang of Four,
Oblivians,
Basic Channel,
Lyres,
Boogie Down Productions,
Brand Nubian,
Porter Ricks,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Hot Snakes,
Fatback Band,
The J.B.'s,
Wire,
Q and Not U,
Ken Boothe,
Infiniti,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Nils Olav,
Ludus,
Anakelly,
Amon Düül II,
Cybotron,
Marine Girls,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Tim Buckley,
CMW,
Eric Copeland,
Gong,
Ultra Naté,
R.M.O.,
Ossler,
Joy Division,
Stetsasonic,
Can,
The Fortunes,
Archie Shepp,
The Doors,
Cecil Taylor, Cecil Taylor, Cecil Taylor, Cecil Taylor.
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.