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 Haiti and from Houston.
But I was there.
I was there in 1984.
I was there at the first Arcadia show in London.
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 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lyon and Hong Kong.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 808 sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Guru Guru to the crunk 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 Tropical Tobacco. All the underground hits.
All OOIOO tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Sällskapet 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Avey Tare record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Cybotron,
Be Bop Deluxe,
The Zeros,
Con Funk Shun,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Desert Stars,
Talk Talk,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Terry Callier,
T. Rex,
Arcadia,
Lindisfarne,
Nas,
Harry Pussy,
Rakim,
Magazine,
Basic Channel,
Todd Rundgren,
T.S.O.L.,
Ultimate Spinach,
This Heat,
Soulsonic Force,
The Divine Comedy,
Mary Jane Girls,
Joyce Sims,
Kevin Saunderson,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Fad Gadget,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Tim Buckley,
The Blues Magoos,
Blancmange,
Accadde A,
Procol Harum,
Icehouse,
Girls At Our Best!,
Rufus Thomas,
LL Cool J,
Essential Logic,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
the Slits,
Black Bananas,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
James White and The Blacks,
Japan,
Archie Shepp,
The Trojans,
The Cramps,
Boredoms,
Technova,
Lakeside,
Easy Going,
Nirvana,
Scrapy,
Patti Smith,
Sugar Minott,
Toni Rubio,
Don Cherry,
Quantec,
Fear,
Clear Light, Clear Light, Clear Light, Clear Light.
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.