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 Dominica and from Lagos.
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 1965 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bremen and Mumbai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Seoul 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 snare sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 June of 44 to the grime kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Terry Callier. All the underground hits.
All Eve St. Jones tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Detroit Cobras record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a A Certain Ratio record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Martian,
Arab on Radar,
Nas,
X-102,
R.M.O.,
KRS-One,
Joe Finger,
Sparks,
Isaac Hayes,
Pylon,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
MDC,
Symarip,
X-101,
Wally Richardson,
The Grass Roots,
Howard Jones,
The Last Poets,
Pierre Henry,
Crash Course in Science,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
The J.B.'s,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Newcleus,
Mission of Burma,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Suicide,
Glambeats Corp.,
Robert Görl,
the Germs,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
The Blackbyrds,
The Fall,
The Moleskins,
Quando Quango,
Bluetip,
The Smiths,
Schoolly D,
Pantytec,
Das Ding,
Grandmaster Flash,
Yellowson,
Roger Hodgson,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
kango's stein massive,
Bobby Womack,
June of 44,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Con Funk Shun,
The Invisible,
Scott Walker,
Pole,
a-ha,
Bang On A Can,
Rod Modell,
Echospace,
Average White Band, Average White Band, Average White Band, Average White Band.
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.