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 Tajikistan and from Toronto.
But I was there.
I was there in 1970.
I was there at the first Onyeabor show in Enugu.
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 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manila and Woodstock.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school New York 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 rhodes 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 Tropical Tobacco to the grunge kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Toni Rubio. All the underground hits.
All the Soft Cell tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every the Germs record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a 808 and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Jawbox record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
the Bar-Kays,
Deadbeat,
The Sonics,
Malaria!,
Lindisfarne,
Public Enemy,
Faust,
Isaac Hayes,
Joy Division,
Ituana,
Reagan Youth,
Pole,
Lyres,
Infiniti,
The Associates,
Television,
Quantec,
Fela Kuti,
The Kinks,
Theoretical Girls,
Chris Corsano,
Sister Nancy,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Bobby Byrd,
FM Einheit,
Darondo,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Dennis Brown,
The Monochrome Set,
In Retrospect,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Faraquet,
Banda Bassotti,
Jacob Miller,
Glambeats Corp.,
Connie Case,
The Tremeloes,
Archie Shepp,
The Pretty Things,
Ultravox,
Circle Jerks,
Young Marble Giants,
Severed Heads,
Unwound,
The American Breed,
Laurel Aitken,
Fugazi,
Wasted Youth,
DJ Sneak,
The New Christs,
10cc,
Alison Limerick,
Newcleus,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Nick Fraelich,
Grandmaster Flash,
The Cosmic Jokers,
The Five Americans,
The Residents,
Mars,
Nils Olav, Nils Olav, Nils Olav, Nils Olav.
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.