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 Belarus and from New York.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Josef K show in Edinburgh.
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 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tokyo and Taipei.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 1967 at the first Rodriguez practice in a loft in Detroit.
I was working on the harpsichord 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 The Royal Family And The Poor to the crunk kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Manfred Mann's Earth Band. All the underground hits.
All the Bar-Kays tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Wolf Eyes 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 '70s.
I hear you're buying a snare and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Cabaret Voltaire record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Con Funk Shun,
Cymande,
Archie Shepp,
The United States of America,
The Motions,
Leonard Cohen,
Joe Finger,
The Black Dice,
MC5,
Stiv Bators,
Talk Talk,
Procol Harum,
Prince Buster,
Can,
The Gories,
Roger Hodgson,
Rotary Connection,
Scan 7,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Shuggie Otis,
Bluetip,
Bobby Sherman,
Pagans,
Ornette Coleman,
the Bar-Kays,
Suicide,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Rufus Thomas,
Aswad,
Lightning Bolt,
The Human League,
48th St. Collective,
Al Stewart,
Eddi Front,
Piero Umiliani,
Jacques Brel,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Ronan,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Supertramp,
Frankie Knuckles,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Porter Ricks,
The Birthday Party,
Dead Boys,
H. Thieme,
Dark Day,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
James Chance & The Contortions,
A Certain Ratio,
Toni Rubio,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Soft Machine,
Kerri Chandler,
Eric Dolphy,
Isaac Hayes,
Gregory Isaacs,
Main Source,
Angry Samoans,
Kaleidoscope,
The Durutti Column,
Gang of Four, Gang of Four, Gang of Four, Gang of Four.
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.