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 Uzbekistan and from Manchester.
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 1969 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Beijing and Tehran.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Tehran 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 harpsichord sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Ituana to the crunk kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Make Up. All the underground hits.
All The Doors tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Fela Kuti record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock 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 organ and a mellotron 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 clarinet and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Black Bananas,
Public Enemy,
Bobby Sherman,
Lungfish,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Roxy Music,
The Saints,
The J.B.'s,
Reagan Youth,
Byron Stingily,
Sarah Menescal,
Bauhaus,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Charles Mingus,
Skaos,
Echospace,
Drexciya,
The Leaves,
Al Stewart,
Soul II Soul,
Sam Rivers,
KRS-One,
ABC,
Reuben Wilson,
Roy Ayers,
Bizarre Inc.,
Funkadelic,
Crispian St. Peters,
Eric Dolphy,
Lalo Schifrin,
Michelle Simonal,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Alice Coltrane,
Adolescents,
Marine Girls,
Morten Harket,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Ituana,
Howard Jones,
Television,
Malaria!,
Gastr Del Sol,
Erykah Badu,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
OOIOO,
The Skatalites,
Johnny Osbourne,
Goldenarms,
Spandau Ballet,
New Age Steppers,
Rites of Spring,
Donny Hathaway,
Scratch Acid,
The Index,
Frankie Knuckles,
Ludus,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Spoonie Gee,
Curtis Mayfield,
Mantronix,
Surgeon, Surgeon, Surgeon, Surgeon.
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.