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 Tuvalu and from Cairo.
But I was there.
I was there in 1968.
I was there at the first Bowie show in Bromley.
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 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Jakarta and Accra.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school London 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 snare 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 Gil Scott Heron to the crunk 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 Larry & the Blue Notes. All the underground hits.
All Eric Copeland tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Tim Buckley record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a De La Soul & Jungle Brothers record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The United States of America,
Buzzcocks,
Lightning Bolt,
Nico,
The Invisible,
Sex Pistols,
Subhumans,
The Five Americans,
Lakeside,
Second Layer,
Lungfish,
The Cramps,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Y Pants,
The Alarm Clocks,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
The Residents,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Johnny Osbourne,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Nils Olav,
The New Christs,
Kas Product,
Young Marble Giants,
The Star Department,
the Slits,
Au Pairs,
Glenn Branca,
These Immortal Souls,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
X-101,
Arthur Verocai,
Gastr Del Sol,
Soulsonic Force,
Adolescents,
Altered Images,
10cc,
Drexciya,
Roxette,
Crispian St. Peters,
Jacques Brel,
Blossom Toes,
Joy Division,
Bobbi Humphrey,
The Offenders,
Isaac Hayes,
the Normal,
Fatback Band,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
The Cure,
Mark Hollis,
Jimmy McGriff,
Guru Guru,
Parry Music,
In Retrospect,
Kerrie Biddell,
Grauzone,
Maleditus Sound,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Leonard Cohen,
Todd Rundgren,
Donald Byrd,
Ten City,
Essential Logic,
China Crisis, China Crisis, China Crisis, China Crisis.
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.