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 Dominica and from Hong Kong.
But I was there.
I was there in 1973.
I was there at the first Television 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 1963 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Paris and Salvador.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Winnipeg 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 sitar 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 Average White Band to the punk kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 June of 44. All the underground hits.
All Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Nas 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a mellotron and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Royal Family And The Poor record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Alison Limerick,
Cecil Taylor,
Trumans Water,
Radio Birdman,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
The Last Poets,
Lucky Dragons,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
The Fortunes,
Grey Daturas,
Curtis Mayfield,
Suicide,
Scratch Acid,
Oneida,
Average White Band,
Second Layer,
Vladislav Delay,
DNA,
FM Einheit,
Popol Vuh,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Funky Four + One,
June of 44,
Lalann,
John Holt,
DJ Sneak,
The Birthday Party,
Donny Hathaway,
Ralphi Rosario,
James Chance & The Contortions,
The Sonics,
The Dirtbombs,
Ash Ra Tempel,
The Saints,
the Human League,
Soul Sonic Force,
Fluxion,
The Fall,
Quando Quango,
Suburban Knight,
Black Moon,
Jerry's Kids,
Fat Boys,
Kas Product,
Erykah Badu,
The Flesh Eaters,
Cal Tjader,
Donald Byrd,
Wally Richardson,
Hoover,
Stockholm Monsters,
Whodini,
Subhumans,
Main Source,
Pole,
The Slackers,
Shoche,
MDC,
Prince Buster,
Pierre Henry, Pierre Henry, Pierre Henry, Pierre Henry.
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.