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 Kiribati and from Taipei.
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 1963 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Halifax and Beijing.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Portland 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 chamberlin 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 Electric Prunes to the funk kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Technova. All the underground hits.
All Curtis Mayfield tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Jeru the Damaja record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Neil Young record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Dirtbombs,
Qualms,
Derrick Morgan,
Mary Jane Girls,
Jeff Mills,
Swell Maps,
Anthony Braxton,
Vladislav Delay,
June Days,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Marshall Jefferson,
The Residents,
The J.B.'s,
Marcia Griffiths,
Ten City,
Spandau Ballet,
Yusef Lateef,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Jimmy McGriff,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
The Sound,
Amon Düül II,
Ossler,
Chris & Cosey,
Hashim,
Nils Olav,
Joe Smooth,
Brand Nubian,
Negative Approach,
Model 500,
Talk Talk,
Brothers Johnson,
David McCallum,
Heaven 17,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Con Funk Shun,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Organ,
Magazine,
The Litter,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
CMW,
Lower 48,
H. Thieme,
the Normal,
Agent Orange,
Popol Vuh,
Fifty Foot Hose,
The Barracudas,
Albert Ayler,
Lee Hazlewood,
Ice-T,
The Skatalites,
Rites of Spring,
Gil Scott Heron,
Hasil Adkins,
Fad Gadget,
Erasure,
Suburban Knight,
Newcleus,
Lyres, Lyres, Lyres, Lyres.
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.