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 El Salvador and from Hong Kong.
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 1964 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Beijing and Mumbai.
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 1975 at the first Ubu practice in a loft in Cleveland.
I was working on the marimba 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 Radio Birdman to the grime kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Idris Muhammad. All the underground hits.
All The Saints tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every ABBA record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a linndrum and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a ABBA record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Count Five,
Gang Gang Dance,
Rakim,
The Index,
Hot Snakes,
Black Bananas,
Sun City Girls,
Jeru the Damaja,
Sam Rivers,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Babytalk,
U.S. Maple,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Groovy Waters,
Camberwell Now,
Gichy Dan,
Unrelated Segments,
Andrew Hill,
Pole,
James White and The Blacks,
Agitation Free,
Todd Terry,
The Neon Judgement,
the Normal,
Jerry's Kids,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Ultravox,
The United States of America,
Rosa Yemen,
Idris Muhammad,
Mantronix,
Grandmaster Flash,
Swans,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Ponytail,
Gil Scott Heron,
The Happenings,
Sonic Youth,
Eurythmics,
The Last Poets,
The Searchers,
Lindisfarne,
Model 500,
The Stooges,
Rotary Connection,
Animal Collective,
Neu!,
Blossom Toes,
Henry Cow,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Duran Duran,
Das Ding,
ABC,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Motorama,
Visage,
Scion,
Stereo Dub,
Cecil Taylor,
Eli Mardock,
Donald Byrd, Donald Byrd, Donald Byrd, Donald Byrd.
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.