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 Tonga and from Bologna.
But I was there.
I was there in 1973.
I was there at the first Television show in New York.
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 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Spokane and Johannesburg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school London 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 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 Thompson Twins to the rock 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 Rod Modell. All the underground hits.
All Bang on a Can All-Stars tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Rahsaan Roland Kirk record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap 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 rhodes and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Fela Kuti record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Adolescents,
Avey Tare,
cv313,
Gastr Del Sol,
Minny Pops,
Soft Cell,
Unwound,
E-Dancer,
Altered Images,
Cameo,
Little Man,
Oneida,
Black Flag,
The Tremeloes,
Ludus,
Fatback Band,
The Blues Magoos,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Simply Red,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Crash Course in Science,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Nico,
Boredoms,
Mission of Burma,
Crime,
Brothers Johnson,
Arthur Verocai,
Ponytail,
Skarface,
Cecil Taylor,
Con Funk Shun,
Ronnie Foster,
The New Christs,
Heaven 17,
Skriet,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Lalo Schifrin,
R.M.O.,
Harry Pussy,
Bobby Womack,
Vladislav Delay,
Sun Ra,
The Residents,
The Velvet Underground,
Qualms,
Television Personalities,
Loose Ends,
Lou Christie,
Marcia Griffiths,
X-Ray Spex,
T. Rex,
Smog,
Public Image Ltd.,
Jimmy McGriff,
Alton Ellis,
The Litter,
Eden Ahbez,
Don Cherry,
Alison Limerick,
Marmalade,
Godley & Creme, Godley & Creme, Godley & Creme, Godley & Creme.
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.