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 Kenya and from Manila.
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 1965 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Columbus and Mumbai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manila 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 arpeggiator 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 Cluster to the electroclash 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 The Mighty Diamonds. All the underground hits.
All Max Romeo tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Neu! 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 '90s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Minny Pops record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Tommy Roe,
JFA,
Guru Guru,
Rod Modell,
The New Christs,
The Remains,
The Pretty Things,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Fluxion,
Aswad,
Crispy Ambulance,
The Stooges,
Rosa Yemen,
Barrington Levy,
Don Cherry,
Eli Mardock,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Aural Exciters,
Pulsallama,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Byron Stingily,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Severed Heads,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
The Five Americans,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Bob Dylan,
Marc Almond,
Jesper Dahlback,
Prince Buster,
Camberwell Now,
kango's stein massive,
Robert Wyatt,
The Moleskins,
Cymande,
Scott Walker,
Johnny Clarke,
Marmalade,
Fatback Band,
Thee Headcoats,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Joe Smooth,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
The Velvet Underground,
Cheater Slicks,
Lucky Dragons,
Dawn Penn,
Scrapy,
Wally Richardson,
Lindisfarne,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Charles Mingus,
Wasted Youth,
Lou Reed,
Basic Channel,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Isaac Hayes,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Ultravox,
Oneida,
Amon Düül,
Peter and Kerry, Peter and Kerry, Peter and Kerry, Peter and Kerry.
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.