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 Yemen and from New York.
But I was there.
I was there in 1962.
I was there at the first Guess Who show in Winnipeg.
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 1965 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and Paris.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Houston 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 clarinet 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 Robert Görl to the dance kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Freddie Wadling. All the underground hits.
All Jandek tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Charles Mingus 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Japan record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
MC5,
The Alarm Clocks,
Yusef Lateef,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Eric B and Rakim,
Lungfish,
Fugazi,
Monolake,
The Gun Club,
Lower 48,
Newcleus,
Marshall Jefferson,
Gang Gang Dance,
Hoover,
The Flesh Eaters,
Sugar Minott,
Marc Almond,
Average White Band,
Kayak,
David McCallum,
Todd Rundgren,
The Beau Brummels,
The J.B.'s,
Fad Gadget,
Nick Fraelich,
Gregory Isaacs,
Frankie Knuckles,
La Düsseldorf,
John Lydon,
Camberwell Now,
Malaria!,
Kaleidoscope,
Bobby Womack,
Warren Ellis,
The Moody Blues,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Judy Mowatt,
Banda Bassotti,
Ultravox,
Flipper,
The Detroit Cobras,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Black Moon,
Masters at Work,
The Remains,
Scott Walker,
Albert Ayler,
Todd Terry,
The Selecter,
The American Breed,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Kerrie Biddell,
The Red Krayola,
James White and The Blacks,
KRS-One,
Cybotron,
Blancmange,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Nico, Nico, Nico, Nico.
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.