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 Qatar and from Shanghai.
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 1961 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mexico City and Stockholm.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 theremin 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 Black Sheep to the dance kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Buckinghams. All the underground hits.
All The Evens tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Eric Dolphy record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a chamberlin and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Bang On A Can record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Archie Shepp,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
The Standells,
The Move,
Isaac Hayes,
Zapp,
Mantronix,
Dorothy Ashby,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Sarah Menescal,
Procol Harum,
Bootsy Collins,
La Düsseldorf,
Porter Ricks,
The Real Kids,
Idris Muhammad,
Connie Case,
Chris & Cosey,
Kool Moe Dee,
Susan Cadogan,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Excepter,
The Cure,
Monolake,
The Red Krayola,
Barry Ungar,
Peter & Gordon,
Khruangbin,
Stetsasonic,
Das Ding,
Theoretical Girls,
Bobbi Humphrey,
John Coltrane,
Trumans Water,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Joensuu 1685,
E-Dancer,
Bang On A Can,
48th St. Collective,
Country Teasers,
Severed Heads,
Gastr Del Sol,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Jeff Lynne,
Swans,
Crooked Eye,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
Fluxion,
Public Image Ltd.,
Vainqueur,
The Dave Clark Five,
The Grass Roots,
Al Stewart,
The Star Department,
Unwound,
Grauzone,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Absolute Body Control,
Grey Daturas,
Pulsallama,
Visage, Visage, Visage, Visage.
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.