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 St Kitts & Nevis 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 1960 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Cairo and Shanghai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lyon 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 808 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 Eric Copeland to the jazz kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Massinfluence. All the underground hits.
All This Heat tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Black Flag record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Marvin Gaye record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Procol Harum,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Sam Rivers,
Black Flag,
Harmonia,
The Associates,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Arcadia,
The Fugs,
the Normal,
Iggy Pop,
Graham Central Station,
Minutemen,
The Black Dice,
Mantronix,
Slave,
the Fania All-Stars,
Soulsonic Force,
The Invisible,
The Star Department,
Prince Buster,
Agitation Free,
Gastr Del Sol,
Dawn Penn,
JFA,
Cameo,
Todd Rundgren,
Tubeway Army,
Joyce Sims,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Scrapy,
Blossom Toes,
Underground Resistance,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Porter Ricks,
Cybotron,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
The Birthday Party,
Smog,
Drexciya,
Royal Trux,
Marshall Jefferson,
Godley & Creme,
The Happenings,
Eli Mardock,
The Barracudas,
Scott Walker,
Bluetip,
Fat Boys,
Absolute Body Control,
Harpers Bizarre,
LL Cool J,
Los Fastidios,
Danielle Patucci,
Sun Ra,
The Misunderstood,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Hasil Adkins,
Adolescents,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Max Romeo, Max Romeo, Max Romeo, Max Romeo.
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.