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 Kyrgyzstan and from Accra.
But I was there.
I was there in 1975.
I was there at the first Ubu show in Cleveland.
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 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Glasgow and Beijing.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Hong Kong 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 arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Notorious Big And Bone Thugs to the grunge 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 Wire. All the underground hits.
All Robert Hood tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Marshall Jefferson record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a snare and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Pere Ubu record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Toasters,
Procol Harum,
Roy Ayers,
Jeff Lynne,
Mr. Review,
Camouflage,
Rotary Connection,
Main Source,
Popol Vuh,
Von Mondo,
Groovy Waters,
The Music Machine,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
James White and The Blacks,
The Martian,
Absolute Body Control,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Sonic Youth,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Blake Baxter,
Roger Hodgson,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Soft Machine,
The Pretty Things,
Fad Gadget,
Slave,
Black Sheep,
Funky Four + One,
Aloha Tigers,
Aaron Thompson,
Minutemen,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Terrestrial Tones,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Cybotron,
Piero Umiliani,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Quantec,
FM Einheit,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Brass Construction,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Soul Sonic Force,
Jandek,
Bauhaus,
Mars,
Heaven 17,
Television,
Moebius,
Simply Red,
The Mojo Men,
Lyres,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Ice-T,
Gastr Del Sol,
Panda Bear,
Motorama,
Sonny Sharrock,
Barrington Levy,
The Gories,
Rekid,
Ken Boothe, Ken Boothe, Ken Boothe, Ken Boothe.
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.