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 Trinidad & Tobago and from Accra.
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 1961 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Milan and Accra.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Spokane 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 clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam to the funk 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 Lou Reed & John Cale. All the underground hits.
All The Shadows of Knight tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Connie Case record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk 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 synthesizer and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Monks record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Dark Day,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Arthur Verocai,
Gang Green,
Depeche Mode,
June of 44,
Sex Pistols,
Tim Buckley,
Soulsonic Force,
La Düsseldorf,
Animal Collective,
Juan Atkins,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
The American Breed,
Guru Guru,
Wire,
Moss Icon,
The Blackbyrds,
Crime,
The Invisible,
Bootsy Collins,
kango's stein massive,
Chris & Cosey,
Cymande,
World's Most,
David McCallum,
The Trojans,
The Dave Clark Five,
Gong,
Mandrill,
AZ,
Erasure,
Gerry Rafferty,
Sam Rivers,
Tubeway Army,
Average White Band,
Mission of Burma,
The New Christs,
Scrapy,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Bill Near,
Wolf Eyes,
Country Teasers,
Gang Starr,
Kurtis Blow,
Morten Harket,
Bobby Byrd,
Ornette Coleman,
Symarip,
Blossom Toes,
Stockholm Monsters,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Mark Hollis,
Tres Demented,
Amon Düül II,
Sixth Finger,
the Swans,
The Offenders,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Al Stewart,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
The Dirtbombs,
The United States of America,
Smog,
Suburban Knight, Suburban Knight, Suburban Knight, Suburban Knight.
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.