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 Ghana and from Sao Paulo.
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 1964 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manila and Spokane.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school New York 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 marimba 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 Banda Bassotti to the grunge kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 June Days. All the underground hits.
All Avey Tare tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Mo-Dettes record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a spring reverb.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Mr. Review,
The Names,
Agitation Free,
The Gun Club,
Todd Rundgren,
Saccharine Trust,
Patti Smith,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Circle Jerks,
Don Cherry,
Howard Jones,
Laurel Aitken,
Cluster,
Severed Heads,
Sun Ra,
Franke,
Johnny Osbourne,
The Misunderstood,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Barrington Levy,
Sexual Harrassment,
Albert Ayler,
Model 500,
Crispy Ambulance,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Matthew Halsall,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Juan Atkins,
Japan,
Zapp,
Donald Byrd,
Dorothy Ashby,
The Beau Brummels,
Darondo,
The Gories,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Lou Reed,
Fatback Band,
Brand Nubian,
The Vogues,
Sound Behaviour,
Funky Four + One,
Tears for Fears,
Shuggie Otis,
Gabor Szabo,
Simply Red,
Depeche Mode,
Joy Division,
Marine Girls,
Marmalade,
Yazoo,
the Fania All-Stars,
Ronnie Foster,
Gang of Four,
AZ,
China Crisis,
Chrome,
X-Ray Spex,
The Velvet Underground, The Velvet Underground, The Velvet Underground, The Velvet Underground.
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.