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 Sierra Leone and from Philadelphia.
But I was there.
I was there in 1965.
I was there at the first Beefheart show in Lancaster.
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 1966 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Sao Paulo and Madrid.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lyon 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 1971 at the first Neu! practice in a loft in Düsseldorf.
I was working on the guitar 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 Fatback Band to the crunk 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 Bang on a Can All-Stars. All the underground hits.
All Selector Dub Narcotic tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Donald Byrd 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 marimba and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Reuben Wilson 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?
Josef K,
Depeche Mode,
Delon & Dalcan,
The Shadows of Knight,
Soul II Soul,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Cal Tjader,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Fifty Foot Hose,
The Music Machine,
Ultimate Spinach,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Morten Harket,
Joyce Sims,
One Last Wish,
Sixth Finger,
La Düsseldorf,
Guru Guru,
Nas,
Brick,
Pussy Galore,
Rekid,
Toni Rubio,
Scientists,
Roy Ayers,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Mary Jane Girls,
Hashim,
Japan,
The Last Poets,
Alphaville,
Das Ding,
Young Marble Giants,
Dorothy Ashby,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Dave Gahan,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Joe Smooth,
K-Klass,
Nick Fraelich,
Procol Harum,
Massinfluence,
Erasure,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Tim Buckley,
Godley & Creme,
Boogie Down Productions,
Letta Mbulu,
The Fortunes,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Carl Craig,
Little Man,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Lightning Bolt,
Zapp,
The Young Rascals,
Youth Brigade, Youth Brigade, Youth Brigade, Youth Brigade.
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.