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 Nicaragua and from Woodstock.
But I was there.
I was there in 1975.
I was there at the first Ubu show in Cleveland.
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 1969 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Houston and Beijing.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Delhi 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 güiro sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Sonny Sharrock to the punk 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 Manfred Mann's Earth Band. All the underground hits.
All Kerrie Biddell tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Soft Cell 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a snare and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Bobby Hutcherson record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar 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?
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
The Buckinghams,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Delta 5,
Bad Manners,
Connie Case,
Grey Daturas,
Leonard Cohen,
Youth Brigade,
Andrew Hill,
Banda Bassotti,
The Seeds,
The Slits,
Bluetip,
Half Japanese,
X-102,
Oblivians,
Los Fastidios,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Rod Modell,
Crooked Eye,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Depeche Mode,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Tears for Fears,
the Sonics,
Livin' Joy,
Mary Jane Girls,
Avey Tare,
Janne Schatter,
Ossler,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Drexciya,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Inner City,
Nation of Ulysses,
The Velvet Underground,
Skaos,
The Neon Judgement,
Bronski Beat,
Guru Guru,
Glenn Branca,
The Red Krayola,
Rosa Yemen,
the Swans,
Pet Shop Boys,
The Litter,
John Cale,
Arcadia,
Surgeon,
Eurythmics,
Cal Tjader,
The Fortunes,
Brothers Johnson,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Faust,
Electric Prunes,
The Five Americans,
Colin Newman,
Pulsallama,
AZ,
Hot Snakes, Hot Snakes, Hot Snakes, Hot Snakes.
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.