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 Laos and from Johannesburg.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Josef K show in Edinburgh.
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 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mumbai and Lille.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lille 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 synthesizer sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Surgeon to the dance 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 Dawn Penn. All the underground hits.
All Fugazi tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Art Ensemble Of Chicago record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk 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 a spring reverb and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Faraquet record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Boogie Down Productions,
Cheater Slicks,
Connie Case,
Whodini,
Man Eating Sloth,
The Vogues,
Dorothy Ashby,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Quando Quango,
Surgeon,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Lakeside,
Bad Manners,
Black Flag,
Yazoo,
Funky Four + One,
Bob Dylan,
Average White Band,
Flamin' Groovies,
cv313,
Bobby Womack,
Guru Guru,
Black Sheep,
Marvin Gaye,
Clear Light,
David Axelrod,
a-ha,
Zero Boys,
Roger Hodgson,
Gang of Four,
Hasil Adkins,
Swell Maps,
Scott Walker,
The Raincoats,
The Stooges,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Sugar Minott,
Icehouse,
Minny Pops,
Tom Boy,
Reuben Wilson,
Swans,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Josef K,
Fugazi,
The Tremeloes,
These Immortal Souls,
Todd Rundgren,
Kool Moe Dee,
Henry Cow,
The Doors,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Dennis Brown,
T. Rex,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Electric Prunes,
Agitation Free,
Television Personalities,
The Evens,
The Shadows of Knight,
Pharoah Sanders, Pharoah Sanders, Pharoah Sanders, Pharoah Sanders.
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.