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 Singapore and from Copenhagen.
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 1962 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and Calgary.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Hong Kong 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 arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Suburban Knight to the dance kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Leonard Cohen. All the underground hits.
All Bronski Beat tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Lyres record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk 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 güiro and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Slave record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Gun Club,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Loose Ends,
Sam Rivers,
PIL,
Peter and Kerry,
Man Parrish,
Mr. Review,
Monolake,
Judy Mowatt,
Drive Like Jehu,
Ossler,
Deadbeat,
Black Pus,
U.S. Maple,
The Doors,
Radiopuhelimet,
Amon Düül II,
Liliput,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Lalann,
Rosa Yemen,
CMW,
Ludus,
Rhythm & Sound,
Soul II Soul,
Sound Behaviour,
The Red Krayola,
New Order,
Nas,
The Misunderstood,
China Crisis,
Siglo XX,
The Alarm Clocks,
Accadde A,
ABC,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Junior Murvin,
Depeche Mode,
AZ,
Kayak,
Mantronix,
The Fortunes,
Scion,
Warsaw,
Agitation Free,
Jerry's Kids,
James Chance & The Contortions,
The Grass Roots,
The American Breed,
Visage,
Tim Buckley,
Lower 48,
Cecil Taylor,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Rufus Thomas,
The Star Department,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Procol Harum,
Rotary Connection,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Drexciya,
Black Sheep,
Colin Newman,
Suburban Knight, Suburban Knight, Suburban Knight, Suburban Knight.
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.