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 Taiwan and from Salvador.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Chic show in New York.
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 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Shanghai and Edmonton.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Sao Paulo 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 arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Judy Mowatt to the punk kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 E-Dancer. All the underground hits.
All Andrew Hill tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Marcia Griffiths 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a 808 and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Radiohead record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Nirvana,
Cabaret Voltaire,
The Blackbyrds,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Sonic Youth,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Steve Hackett,
Iggy Pop,
LL Cool J,
Young Marble Giants,
Von Mondo,
China Crisis,
Tears for Fears,
Public Image Ltd.,
Minnie Riperton,
Susan Cadogan,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Camberwell Now,
Bill Wells,
Don Cherry,
Visage,
Guru Guru,
Bob Dylan,
Sight & Sound,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
48th St. Collective,
Alton Ellis,
Joe Smooth,
Y Pants,
Spandau Ballet,
The Modern Lovers,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Gichy Dan,
Junior Murvin,
Rotary Connection,
Amon Düül II,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Lou Christie,
David Axelrod,
Sexual Harrassment,
UT,
Blake Baxter,
Fad Gadget,
The Kinks,
The United States of America,
Minor Threat,
the Fania All-Stars,
Japan,
Sam Rivers,
The Detroit Cobras,
Be Bop Deluxe,
The Electric Prunes,
Rhythm & Sound,
John Foxx,
Pagans,
Althea and Donna,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
The Doobie Brothers,
Stereo Dub, Stereo Dub, Stereo Dub, Stereo Dub.
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.