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 Barbados and from New York.
But I was there.
I was there in 2001.
I was there at the first Tiga show in Montreal.
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 1968 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Sao Paulo and Seoul.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Johannesburg 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 Captain Beefheart 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 Fugazi to the grime kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Maurizio. All the underground hits.
All Eric Dolphy tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Rufus Thomas record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz 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 sitar and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Fire Engines record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Alarm Clocks,
Simply Red,
Funkadelic,
David Bowie,
Skriet,
Liliput,
Brick,
Smog,
Jeff Lynne,
Fad Gadget,
Bizarre Inc.,
Delon & Dalcan,
EPMD,
Jawbox,
the Germs,
Lyres,
Joe Smooth,
The Vogues,
Dawn Penn,
Suburban Knight,
the Soft Cell,
The Remains,
Moss Icon,
Bobby Sherman,
Minny Pops,
Faraquet,
Cheater Slicks,
Boredoms,
Warren Ellis,
Yazoo,
Mo-Dettes,
Kool Moe Dee,
Johnny Osbourne,
Joyce Sims,
Minnie Riperton,
Mark Hollis,
Slave,
The Searchers,
Main Source,
The Monks,
Malaria!,
Rekid,
8 Eyed Spy,
Sun Ra,
Ronan,
Marcia Griffiths,
The Slits,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
the Fania All-Stars,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Pantytec,
Ossler,
The Shadows of Knight,
Babytalk,
The Litter,
Frankie Knuckles,
Thompson Twins,
Nik Kershaw,
David Axelrod,
Anthony Braxton,
Gang of Four,
Idris Muhammad, Idris Muhammad, Idris Muhammad, Idris Muhammad.
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.