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 Norway and from Winnipeg.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Second Layer show in South London.
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 1966 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Woodstock and Johannesburg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Beijing 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 808 sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Delta 5 to the disco kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Beasts of Bourbon. All the underground hits.
All Sparks tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Morten Harket 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 güiro and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Nils Olav record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Eli Mardock,
Ossler,
The Velvet Underground,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Y Pants,
The Fire Engines,
Jimmy McGriff,
Peter & Gordon,
Scott Walker,
Vainqueur,
Cluster,
Blossom Toes,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Archie Shepp,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Harry Pussy,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Pussy Galore,
A Flock of Seagulls,
H. Thieme,
Desert Stars,
Q and Not U,
The Doobie Brothers,
CMW,
Anthony Braxton,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
The Martian,
Erasure,
The Raincoats,
OOIOO,
Marvin Gaye,
Cal Tjader,
Bob Dylan,
Khruangbin,
Nation of Ulysses,
Henry Cow,
Roxette,
Faraquet,
Bronski Beat,
Johnny Clarke,
Jacob Miller,
Darondo,
Nas,
Nirvana,
Alphaville,
Sexual Harrassment,
F. McDonald,
Joey Negro,
Robert Wyatt,
Gichy Dan,
The Vogues,
Duran Duran,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Marcia Griffiths,
Country Teasers,
The Gories,
Procol Harum,
X-102,
The Music Machine,
Robert Hood,
Heaven 17, Heaven 17, Heaven 17, Heaven 17.
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.