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 Laos and from Jakarta.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Feelies show in Haledon.
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 1965 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Stockholm and Bremen.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Beijing 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 1971 at the first Big Star practice in a loft in Memphis.
I was working on the sitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Deakin to the jazz 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 Alton Ellis. All the underground hits.
All Stiv Bators tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Joe Smooth record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz 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 sitar and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Drive Like Jehu record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Mighty Diamonds,
The Birthday Party,
The Dave Clark Five,
Cecil Taylor,
Harpers Bizarre,
Harmonia,
Ponytail,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Lou Reed,
Y Pants,
Hashim,
Camouflage,
Underground Resistance,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Youth Brigade,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Marmalade,
Skriet,
Pagans,
Nas,
Public Enemy,
Charles Mingus,
The American Breed,
Rekid,
Camberwell Now,
The Saints,
Q65,
Drive Like Jehu,
Reuben Wilson,
John Foxx,
Von Mondo,
Zapp,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Fad Gadget,
Josef K,
Alton Ellis,
Adolescents,
Crispian St. Peters,
Mars,
Stockholm Monsters,
Oneida,
Lungfish,
Kool Moe Dee,
Circle Jerks,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Procol Harum,
Khruangbin,
Tom Boy,
The Real Kids,
Kurtis Blow,
The Pretty Things,
The Trojans,
Joensuu 1685,
Radio Birdman,
Warren Ellis,
Hardrive,
Sixth Finger,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Sam Rivers,
Can,
Aural Exciters,
Maleditus Sound,
Donald Byrd, Donald Byrd, Donald Byrd, Donald Byrd.
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.