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 Fiji and from Cairo.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Big Star show in Memphis.
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 1962 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manchester and Cairo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Toronto 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 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 Angry Samoans to the electroclash kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Glenn Branca. All the underground hits.
All Bang on a Can All-Stars tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every K-Klass 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Zeros record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Alice Coltrane,
The Remains,
The Motions,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
The Fuzztones,
Patti Smith,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Fluxion,
Eli Mardock,
Pylon,
Funky Four + One,
Sex Pistols,
Gang Starr,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Piero Umiliani,
Soul Sonic Force,
The Flesh Eaters,
The Fugs,
Scion,
Quando Quango,
Half Japanese,
The Residents,
U.S. Maple,
Derrick Morgan,
Swans,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Infiniti,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Shuggie Otis,
Gang Gang Dance,
Johnny Osbourne,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Lightning Bolt,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
The Tremeloes,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
The Toasters,
Blancmange,
Susan Cadogan,
Mandrill,
Stereo Dub,
Pere Ubu,
The New Christs,
Crime,
Ten City,
Lou Christie,
Sound Behaviour,
Procol Harum,
Dawn Penn,
Ohio Players,
The Fire Engines,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Bootsy Collins,
The Stooges,
Roger Hodgson,
New York Dolls,
Aaron Thompson,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Vainqueur,
Bronski Beat,
Harpers Bizarre,
Fear, Fear, Fear, Fear.
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.