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 Luxembourg and from Johannesburg.
But I was there.
I was there in 1962.
I was there at the first Guess Who show in Winnipeg.
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 1965 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Columbus and Portland.
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 1968 at the first Can practice in a loft in Cologne.
I was working on the arpeggiator 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 Flamin' Groovies to the disco kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Slits. All the underground hits.
All Minnie Riperton tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a These Immortal Souls record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Marvin Gaye,
Arthur Verocai,
The Saints,
Smog,
Anakelly,
Aural Exciters,
Tears for Fears,
Unwound,
Cecil Taylor,
ABBA,
The Dead C,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Mr. Review,
China Crisis,
Brothers Johnson,
Wasted Youth,
Black Bananas,
The Slackers,
The Skatalites,
Alice Coltrane,
Agitation Free,
Zero Boys,
Television Personalities,
Bush Tetras,
Boogie Down Productions,
Robert Hood,
Darondo,
Gang of Four,
Fad Gadget,
The Red Krayola,
Nick Fraelich,
Fatback Band,
Judy Mowatt,
The Selecter,
Lungfish,
Massinfluence,
Depeche Mode,
Ohio Players,
Jacob Miller,
Iggy Pop,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Parry Music,
Warren Ellis,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Michelle Simonal,
Thompson Twins,
Mad Mike,
The Fall,
Essential Logic,
The American Breed,
Marcia Griffiths,
Cymande,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Amazonics,
Crime,
Flipper,
The United States of America,
JFA,
Second Layer,
Peter and Kerry,
Brick,
Eric Dolphy, Eric Dolphy, Eric Dolphy, Eric Dolphy.
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.