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 Sierra Leone and from Mumbai.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Zapp show in Hamilton.
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 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Edmonton and Manila.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Johannesburg 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 güiro sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Justin Hinds & The Dominoes to the punk kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Alton Ellis. All the underground hits.
All Ultimate Spinach tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Mo-Dettes record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Yusef Lateef record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb 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 Slits,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Archie Shepp,
Agitation Free,
Drive Like Jehu,
Gichy Dan,
Swans,
David McCallum,
Pole,
Marcia Griffiths,
Sällskapet,
Eurythmics,
Unwound,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Rekid,
Chris & Cosey,
The United States of America,
Tim Buckley,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Alison Limerick,
X-102,
DNA,
The Beau Brummels,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Dead Boys,
Scrapy,
Soft Cell,
Soul II Soul,
David Bowie,
Spoonie Gee,
Lindisfarne,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Jandek,
Sun Ra,
Toni Rubio,
Nick Fraelich,
Theoretical Girls,
Don Cherry,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Iggy Pop,
The Pop Group,
Crime,
Das Ding,
Roger Hodgson,
the Soft Cell,
Symarip,
Sarah Menescal,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Marvin Gaye,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Traffic Nightmare,
Janne Schatter,
Donald Byrd,
Quadrant,
Brass Construction,
Desert Stars,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Panda Bear,
Animal Collective,
Masters at Work,
Tommy Roe,
Main Source, Main Source, Main Source, Main Source.
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.