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 Marshall Islands and from Taipei.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Neu! show in Düsseldorf.
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 1969 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manchester and Taipei.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Philadelphia 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 mellotron 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 Glenn Branca 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 Magazine. All the underground hits.
All Marvin Gaye tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Cybotron record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash 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 marimba and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Byron Stingily record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Rotary Connection,
Fad Gadget,
Kurtis Blow,
FM Einheit,
Soft Machine,
The Cowsills,
Hoover,
Lightning Bolt,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Severed Heads,
The Flesh Eaters,
Stetsasonic,
The Star Department,
Neil Young,
Scientists,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Nation of Ulysses,
Boz Scaggs,
Fluxion,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Cecil Taylor,
Los Fastidios,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Alison Limerick,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Stockholm Monsters,
The Knickerbockers,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Pierre Henry,
the Germs,
Tomorrow,
Joe Finger,
Colin Newman,
Eric Dolphy,
The Blues Magoos,
The J.B.'s,
Idris Muhammad,
Maurizio,
The Litter,
Average White Band,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
The Cure,
Pharoah Sanders,
Gregory Isaacs,
Index,
Heaven 17,
The Fuzztones,
The Vogues,
The Grass Roots,
E-Dancer,
Suburban Knight,
Shuggie Otis,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Massinfluence,
Desert Stars,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
The American Breed,
The Human League,
Siglo XX,
Youth Brigade,
Mandrill, Mandrill, Mandrill, Mandrill.
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.