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 Equatorial Guinea and from Madrid.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Feelies show in Haledon.
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 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Columbus and Lagos.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Beijing 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 arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 The Red Krayola to the electroclash 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 Susan Cadogan. All the underground hits.
All Marshall Jefferson tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Count Five 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 '90s.
I hear you're buying a snare and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Pantaleimon record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Black Sheep,
In Retrospect,
Schoolly D,
Patti Smith,
The Birthday Party,
Sällskapet,
Fluxion,
The J.B.'s,
Eric Dolphy,
KRS-One,
Gang Gang Dance,
Jawbox,
Funky Four + One,
The Angels of Light,
New Order,
The Shadows of Knight,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Barry Ungar,
Pylon,
Flamin' Groovies,
James White and The Blacks,
Pet Shop Boys,
Camouflage,
The Dave Clark Five,
Bang On A Can,
Graham Central Station,
Eden Ahbez,
Bobby Byrd,
Young Marble Giants,
Buzzcocks,
D'Angelo,
Wally Richardson,
Eric B and Rakim,
Accadde A,
Cybotron,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Groovy Waters,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Average White Band,
The Blackbyrds,
The Fuzztones,
Anakelly,
Tropical Tobacco,
Angry Samoans,
Rakim,
Joy Division,
Rotary Connection,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Guru Guru,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Simply Red,
Junior Murvin,
Bad Manners,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
PIL,
Saccharine Trust,
Lindisfarne,
Hardrive,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
The Seeds,
Surgeon,
Beasts of Bourbon,
The Neon Judgement,
New York Dolls,
Quando Quango, Quando Quango, Quando Quango, Quando Quango.
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.