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 Marshall Islands and from Bremen.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Chic 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 1967 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bremen and Lyon.
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 1968 at the first Can practice in a loft in Cologne.
I was working on the theremin 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 John Cale to the funk 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 Bill Near. All the underground hits.
All X-102 tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every JFA record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Pere Ubu record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Sun City Girls,
The Last Poets,
Bush Tetras,
The Dirtbombs,
Main Source,
The United States of America,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Patti Smith,
Nils Olav,
The Trojans,
Intrusion,
Camron Feat. Memphis Bleek And Beenie Seigel,
Nation of Ulysses,
Kurtis Blow,
Jawbox,
James White and The Blacks,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
June Days,
The Misunderstood,
Marcia Griffiths,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Public Image Ltd.,
Judy Mowatt,
The Flesh Eaters,
Blossom Toes,
Sight & Sound,
Man Parrish,
Cameo,
Joe Smooth,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Boogie Down Productions,
Yazoo,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Camberwell Now,
The Searchers,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
The Shadows of Knight,
Drexciya,
Harpers Bizarre,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Depeche Mode,
Matthew Bourne,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
The Vogues,
The Five Americans,
Basic Channel,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Erykah Badu,
Radio Birdman,
Kool Moe Dee,
Barrington Levy,
Juan Atkins,
Chris Corsano,
The Cowsills,
Althea and Donna,
The Smoke,
Livin' Joy,
Ice-T,
Graham Central Station,
Amon Düül,
Japan,
Spoonie Gee,
The Gories,
The Doobie Brothers,
Soft Machine, Soft Machine, Soft Machine, Soft Machine.
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.