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 Malawi and from Taipei.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Mistral show in Amsterdam.
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 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Spokane and Glasgow.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Johannesburg 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 clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Josef K to the rock kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Unwound. All the underground hits.
All Rufus Thomas tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Shoche record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Darondo,
Jeff Mills,
Scrapy,
ABC,
Nick Fraelich,
Jandek,
Bang On A Can,
Grey Daturas,
Depeche Mode,
Soulsonic Force,
The Sisters of Mercy,
The Pop Group,
Deepchord,
The Blackbyrds,
Jimmy McGriff,
Young Marble Giants,
Grandmaster Flash,
Icehouse,
The Red Krayola,
OOIOO,
Max Romeo,
Tomorrow,
Mandrill,
John Foxx,
The Buckinghams,
Bluetip,
Brand Nubian,
Cybotron,
Crime,
Wings,
Circle Jerks,
Silicon Teens,
Joensuu 1685,
The Human League,
Gichy Dan,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Radio Birdman,
Archie Shepp,
Sex Pistols,
The Techniques,
X-102,
Scion,
Rod Modell,
Eden Ahbez,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Anthony Braxton,
Aaron Thompson,
Michelle Simonal,
Girls At Our Best!,
Eli Mardock,
Lebanon Hanover,
Peter & Gordon,
Glenn Branca,
Can,
Erasure,
Khruangbin,
a-ha,
MDC,
Swans,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Soft Cell,
Tommy Roe,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
The Doors,
The Mummies, The Mummies, The Mummies, The Mummies.
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.