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 Bahrain and from Lagos.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Chic show in New York.
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 1961 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Jakarta and Spokane.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Cairo 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 mellotron sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Clear Light to the punk 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 Eve St. Jones. All the underground hits.
All Rakim tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Star Department record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco 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 guitar and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Rahsaan Roland Kirk record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a spring reverb.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Quadrant,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Leonard Cohen,
DJ Style,
Main Source,
a-ha,
New Age Steppers,
Kayak,
Gil Scott Heron,
F. McDonald,
Interpol,
The Fall,
Das Ding,
Nik Kershaw,
Minny Pops,
Mr. Review,
Infiniti,
Eden Ahbez,
Average White Band,
Flamin' Groovies,
The Star Department,
Jawbox,
Hoover,
Henry Cow,
The Happenings,
Ultimate Spinach,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Minutemen,
The Birthday Party,
The United States of America,
Joensuu 1685,
Iggy Pop,
The Mighty Diamonds,
The Wake,
Brand Nubian,
The Doobie Brothers,
The Gladiators,
The Mummies,
Kenny Larkin,
Clear Light,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Reagan Youth,
Dawn Penn,
Althea and Donna,
Outsiders,
Black Pus,
Mandrill,
Television Personalities,
John Cale,
Eric Dolphy,
Man Parrish,
Jimmy McGriff,
Masters at Work,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Funkadelic,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Quantec,
Donald Byrd,
Brothers Johnson,
Wally Richardson,
Fela Kuti,
The Slits,
The Tremeloes, The Tremeloes, The Tremeloes, The Tremeloes.
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.