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 France and from Philadelphia.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Feelies show in Haledon.
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 1968 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Paris and Manila.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Paris 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 Cameo to the grime kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Roy Ayers Ubiquity. All the underground hits.
All The Standells tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Tropical Tobacco record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk 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 clarinet and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Bang on a Can All-Stars record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Tres Demented,
Mission of Burma,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Marmalade,
Aloha Tigers,
Peter & Gordon,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Gang Green,
Skaos,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Ossler,
Rakim,
Negative Approach,
Make Up,
Outsiders,
The Fugs,
The Neon Judgement,
The J.B.'s,
Tommy Roe,
Nick Fraelich,
Country Teasers,
Absolute Body Control,
Das Ding,
Gang Gang Dance,
The Wake,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Soulsonic Force,
Danielle Patucci,
Siglo XX,
Rapeman,
Magazine,
The Pop Group,
Peter and Kerry,
Yusef Lateef,
Smog,
Freddie Wadling,
The Stooges,
Mantronix,
Adolescents,
Parry Music,
The Modern Lovers,
Pantytec,
Funkadelic,
The Evens,
Cluster,
Fad Gadget,
Royal Trux,
Jeru the Damaja,
Joe Finger,
Gang of Four,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Albert Ayler,
Main Source,
Henry Cow,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Bobby Byrd,
Spandau Ballet,
The Saints, The Saints, The Saints, The Saints.
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.