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 Tajikistan and from Cairo.
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 1960 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lyon and Winnipeg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Portland 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 chamberlin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Gong to the techno kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Sun Ra Arkestra. All the underground hits.
All Junior Murvin tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Japan record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a chamberlin and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Standells record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Human League,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Sexual Harrassment,
R.M.O.,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
MDC,
Throbbing Gristle,
Archie Shepp,
Visage,
Althea and Donna,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Andrew Hill,
Bobby Hutcherson,
The Detroit Cobras,
Fluxion,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Slick Rick,
Qualms,
The Leaves,
The Doobie Brothers,
Bronski Beat,
Dead Boys,
Second Layer,
Gong,
Joyce Sims,
Slave,
Pierre Henry,
Au Pairs,
Janne Schatter,
The Moody Blues,
Black Moon,
Zapp,
the Slits,
Spandau Ballet,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Bluetip,
Banda Bassotti,
Gabor Szabo,
Ituana,
Basic Channel,
Unrelated Segments,
Tim Buckley,
Erykah Badu,
Eden Ahbez,
Cal Tjader,
Matthew Bourne,
Jimmy McGriff,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Fear,
Can,
Man Parrish,
Half Japanese,
Reuben Wilson,
Surgeon,
Severed Heads,
UT,
The Moleskins,
James White and The Blacks,
Index,
the Swans,
Eddi Front, Eddi Front, Eddi Front, Eddi Front.
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.