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 France and from Madrid.
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 1960 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tehran and Mexico City.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Glasgow 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 marimba 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 Sam Rivers to the funk 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 The Beau Brummels. All the underground hits.
All Rotary Connection tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Bill Wells record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a snare and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The United States of America record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Lou Christie,
Ultimate Spinach,
Mad Mike,
Bootsy Collins,
Mars,
Agitation Free,
Jandek,
The Young Rascals,
Massinfluence,
Tim Buckley,
Jerry Gold Smith,
the Fania All-Stars,
Hashim,
Suburban Knight,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
The Move,
Half Japanese,
Warsaw,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Dead Boys,
Bronski Beat,
Hoover,
Mission of Burma,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Aural Exciters,
Moebius,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Pussy Galore,
John Lydon,
Eric B and Rakim,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Flamin' Groovies,
Ituana,
The Moody Blues,
Youth Brigade,
Mo-Dettes,
Easy Going,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Drive Like Jehu,
Jerry's Kids,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Kool Moe Dee,
X-102,
Popol Vuh,
K-Klass,
Hasil Adkins,
The United States of America,
Eden Ahbez,
Black Flag,
Yaz,
Andrew Hill,
The Index,
Barbara Tucker,
Jawbox,
The Vogues,
The Smoke,
Outsiders,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Malaria!,
Marmalade,
Vainqueur, Vainqueur, Vainqueur, Vainqueur.
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.