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 Germany and from New York.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Selda show in Istanbul.
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 1960 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Cairo and Accra.
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 1967 at the first Rodriguez practice in a loft in Detroit.
I was working on the rhodes sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Neu! 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 Gong. All the underground hits.
All Gil Scott Heron tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Grass Roots record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Manfred Mann's Earth Band record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Velvet Underground,
Mission of Burma,
The Tremeloes,
Motorama,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
The Five Americans,
The Monochrome Set,
The Cramps,
Camron Feat. Jay Z And Juelz,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Black Moon,
Arcadia,
Pussy Galore,
Gichy Dan,
Matthew Halsall,
John Coltrane,
Average White Band,
Cameo,
The Music Machine,
Heaven 17,
Los Fastidios,
Bronski Beat,
Jacob Miller,
Fluxion,
Dorothy Ashby,
Ossler,
Soul II Soul,
Erykah Badu,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Procol Harum,
Flipper,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Television Personalities,
Arab on Radar,
Yusef Lateef,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Jerry's Kids,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Man Eating Sloth,
Intrusion,
Animal Collective,
The Human League,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Arthur Verocai,
Alphaville,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Eve St. Jones,
Charles Mingus,
Barbara Tucker,
Funky Four + One,
The Stooges,
David Bowie,
Pierre Henry,
The Names,
Terry Callier,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Lou Reed,
Anakelly,
the Bar-Kays,
Zero Boys,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Eric Dolphy,
The Golliwogs, The Golliwogs, The Golliwogs, The Golliwogs.
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.