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 Bosnia Herzegovina and from Copenhagen.
But I was there.
I was there in 1968.
I was there at the first Can show in Cologne.
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 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Delhi and Taipei.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 Big Star practice in a loft in Memphis.
I was working on the harpsichord sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Peanut Butter Conspiracy to the dance 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 Rahsaan Roland Kirk. All the underground hits.
All The Evens tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Smiths 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Bauhaus record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a spring reverb.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Fela Kuti,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Eric Copeland,
Cybotron,
Suicide,
Pussy Galore,
Eden Ahbez,
Ludus,
Cameo,
Janne Schatter,
Oblivians,
Anakelly,
Crooked Eye,
the Bar-Kays,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
One Last Wish,
Organ,
The Standells,
Simply Red,
MC5,
Ten City,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Arcadia,
F. McDonald,
Young Marble Giants,
Thompson Twins,
Prince Buster,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
The Slackers,
Tom Boy,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Harpers Bizarre,
The Mojo Men,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Slave,
Subhumans,
PIL,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Bizarre Inc.,
Theoretical Girls,
Moss Icon,
Todd Rundgren,
ABBA,
Neil Young,
Royal Trux,
Wally Richardson,
Ornette Coleman,
Blancmange,
The United States of America,
Mary Jane Girls,
Colin Newman,
The Durutti Column,
Marmalade,
The Birthday Party,
Joe Finger,
Little Man,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Bob Dylan,
Lou Christie,
Kerri Chandler,
Gerry Rafferty,
Neu!,
Marine Girls, Marine Girls, Marine Girls, Marine Girls.
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.