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 Bahamas and from Portland.
But I was there.
I was there in 1975.
I was there at the first Ubu show in Cleveland.
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 1964 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tokyo and Tehran.
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 clarinet 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 cv313 to the funk kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Piero Umiliani. All the underground hits.
All Yazoo tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Bang on a Can All-Stars record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk 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 spring reverb and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Monolake record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Wolf Eyes,
Radiohead,
Connie Case,
Rotary Connection,
MDC,
Rod Modell,
Gang Starr,
The Sonics,
Subhumans,
Newcleus,
Marine Girls,
Amon Düül II,
L. Decosne,
The American Breed,
Matthew Halsall,
Visage,
Radio Birdman,
Trumans Water,
The Mummies,
Don Cherry,
Sandy B,
Metal Thangz,
The Associates,
Suburban Knight,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Neu!,
The Gladiators,
Aswad,
Barbara Tucker,
Tubeway Army,
Todd Terry,
Mantronix,
The New Christs,
Howard Jones,
The Alarm Clocks,
Interpol,
The Red Krayola,
Gabor Szabo,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
T.S.O.L.,
Patti Smith,
The Fugs,
The Tremeloes,
The Monochrome Set,
Anthony Braxton,
Bobby Byrd,
Bronski Beat,
Cymande,
The Fall,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Bobby Sherman,
Cameo,
Yaz,
Barry Ungar,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Yusef Lateef,
The Wake,
Babytalk,
X-Ray Spex, X-Ray Spex, X-Ray Spex, X-Ray Spex.
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.