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 Uzbekistan and from Seoul.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Neu! show in Düsseldorf.
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 1967 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Cairo and Edmonton.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Edmonton 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 sitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Guru Guru to the techno kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 John Cale. All the underground hits.
All Sun Ra Arkestra tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Underground Resistance 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 '80s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Das Ding record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Walker Brothers,
Leonard Cohen,
A Certain Ratio,
The Techniques,
Ultravox,
The Move,
The Last Poets,
Main Source,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Shuggie Otis,
Von Mondo,
Al Stewart,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
the Germs,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Kool Moe Dee,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Lower 48,
Hoover,
Amon Düül II,
Hardrive,
The Motions,
Sex Pistols,
Archie Shepp,
Yusef Lateef,
Camberwell Now,
Terry Callier,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Stereo Dub,
Nils Olav,
Marvin Gaye,
The Fire Engines,
Beasts of Bourbon,
The Fortunes,
Albert Ayler,
Lalo Schifrin,
The Cure,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Kayak,
The Pop Group,
Eddi Front,
Dead Boys,
Arcadia,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Gang Starr,
Thompson Twins,
Amon Düül,
Jeff Mills,
Banda Bassotti,
Gabor Szabo,
La Düsseldorf,
Masters at Work,
Agitation Free,
Laurel Aitken,
Jimmy McGriff,
Henry Cow,
Eric Copeland,
Cybotron,
Nik Kershaw,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
T. Rex,
Minor Threat, Minor Threat, Minor Threat, Minor Threat.
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.