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 Libya and from Salvador.
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 1962 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Copenhagen and London.
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 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 Lower 48 to the crunk kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan. All the underground hits.
All Big Daddy Kane tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every DNA record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Minutemen record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Flash Fearless,
Cymande,
Arthur Verocai,
The Human League,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Ultra Naté,
Roxette,
Man Eating Sloth,
Deadbeat,
The Pop Group,
Unrelated Segments,
Simply Red,
Fatback Band,
Donald Byrd,
Isaac Hayes,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Fugazi,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Fela Kuti,
Babytalk,
Sly & The Family Stone,
New Age Steppers,
Marshall Jefferson,
Lucky Dragons,
Japan,
D'Angelo,
Pere Ubu,
Livin' Joy,
Sonic Youth,
PIL,
Harpers Bizarre,
Bobby Womack,
Malaria!,
B.T. Express,
Tommy Roe,
David Axelrod,
Public Image Ltd.,
Crooked Eye,
Gang Starr,
Piero Umiliani,
Idris Muhammad,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Lungfish,
The Names,
John Lydon,
Bluetip,
Rotary Connection,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Nation of Ulysses,
Symarip,
Ralphi Rosario,
John Coltrane,
The Modern Lovers,
Talk Talk,
The Mummies,
The Flesh Eaters,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Hasil Adkins,
Cal Tjader,
Scott Walker,
The Smiths,
The Remains,
The Last Poets, The Last Poets, The Last Poets, The Last Poets.
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.