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 Tanzania and from Portland.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Neu! show in Düsseldorf.
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 1961 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Paris and Accra.
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 1976 at the first Feelies practice in a loft in Haledon.
I was working on the sitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Angels of Light & Akron/Family to the techno 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 Selector Dub Narcotic. All the underground hits.
All Marmalade tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Sad Lovers and Giants 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Manfred Mann's Earth Band record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Sad Lovers and Giants,
The Standells,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Zero Boys,
The Tremeloes,
Second Layer,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
LL Cool J,
Lee Hazlewood,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Judy Mowatt,
Bush Tetras,
Dorothy Ashby,
Ultimate Spinach,
Donald Byrd,
Basic Channel,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
The Music Machine,
Brass Construction,
Kevin Saunderson,
The Skatalites,
Janne Schatter,
Derrick Morgan,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Susan Cadogan,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Sparks,
Crooked Eye,
Drexciya,
The Zeros,
New Order,
Sarah Menescal,
Duran Duran,
Lower 48,
Underground Resistance,
Mission of Burma,
The Dirtbombs,
Con Funk Shun,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Prince Buster,
Simply Red,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
KRS-One,
Lou Christie,
Quando Quango,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
The Cure,
Slave,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Faust,
the Germs,
Donny Hathaway,
The Gap Band,
JFA,
Anakelly,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Organ,
Chrome,
Agitation Free,
Minny Pops,
Hardrive,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
The Dead C,
Mad Mike, Mad Mike, Mad Mike, Mad Mike.
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.