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 Grenada and from Manila.
But I was there.
I was there in 1968.
I was there at the first Bowie show in Bromley.
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 1962 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lyon and Lagos.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Jakarta 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 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 A Certain Ratio to the funk kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Barclay James Harvest. All the underground hits.
All Deepchord tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Radio Birdman record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an organ and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Pantaleimon record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
the Human League,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Sällskapet,
R.M.O.,
Hot Snakes,
June of 44,
Section 25,
Hardrive,
Monks,
The Happenings,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Qualms,
Johnny Clarke,
Eden Ahbez,
Lower 48,
Porter Ricks,
Sex Pistols,
Maleditus Sound,
Spandau Ballet,
The Busters,
Fela Kuti,
Audionom,
the Swans,
Icehouse,
Moebius,
Agent Orange,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Circle Jerks,
Glambeats Corp.,
The Pop Group,
The Sisters of Mercy,
The Slits,
Nils Olav,
Matthew Halsall,
World's Most,
The Star Department,
Angry Samoans,
Slick Rick,
Blancmange,
Yusef Lateef,
Deadbeat,
Junior Murvin,
Ornette Coleman,
Gregory Isaacs,
Marine Girls,
Andrew Hill,
The Standells,
The Birthday Party,
Jeru the Damaja,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Scott Walker,
Faust,
Radiohead,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Young Marble Giants,
Donny Hathaway,
The Evens,
The Techniques,
Crispy Ambulance,
Patti Smith, Patti Smith, Patti Smith, Patti Smith.
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.