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 Marshall Islands and from Cairo.
But I was there.
I was there in 1968.
I was there at the first Can show in Cologne.
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 1963 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Glasgow and Calgary.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Mexico City 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 1976 at the first Feelies practice in a loft in Haledon.
I was working on the arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Second Layer to the jazz kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 The Young Rascals. All the underground hits.
All Gang of Four tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Cheater Slicks record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
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 The Smoke record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
June Days,
Bootsy Collins,
Mantronix,
D'Angelo,
Tropical Tobacco,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
The Blackbyrds,
Pulsallama,
Sparks,
Ossler,
The Happenings,
Joe Smooth,
Flipper,
The Mummies,
Zero Boys,
Amon Düül II,
The Alarm Clocks,
Fela Kuti,
The Fugs,
The Fall,
Black Flag,
Visage,
The Victims,
Sun Ra,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
In Retrospect,
Howard Jones,
Bill Near,
The Pop Group,
Lebanon Hanover,
Niagra,
Jimmy McGriff,
EPMD,
The Slackers,
ABBA,
Marine Girls,
Junior Murvin,
Bill Wells,
Yazoo,
10cc,
The Red Krayola,
Neil Young,
The Index,
Model 500,
Sexual Harrassment,
Thompson Twins,
Dawn Penn,
Kerri Chandler,
The Dead C,
The Gladiators,
Moebius,
Graham Central Station,
The Doors,
E-Dancer,
Judy Mowatt,
Rufus Thomas,
John Holt,
Young Marble Giants,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Symarip,
Shuggie Otis,
The Gories,
Barrington Levy, Barrington Levy, Barrington Levy, Barrington Levy.
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.