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 Australia and from Tokyo.
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 1968 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Beijing and Houston.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Edmonton 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 sitar 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 ABC to the grunge 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 Strawberry Alarm Clock. All the underground hits.
All Absolute Body Control tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Grauzone 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 '50s 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 Prince Buster record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
a-ha,
The Dirtbombs,
Faust,
The Misunderstood,
Robert Hood,
Surgeon,
The Electric Prunes,
Don Cherry,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Sonny Sharrock,
Icehouse,
X-102,
The Selecter,
The Doors,
Funky Four + One,
8 Eyed Spy,
Lalo Schifrin,
Cecil Taylor,
The Pop Group,
T. Rex,
The Vogues,
Minny Pops,
Gong,
Gang of Four,
Con Funk Shun,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Kaleidoscope,
Bobby Hutcherson,
The Pretty Things,
La Düsseldorf,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Camouflage,
Marine Girls,
Pharoah Sanders,
The Monochrome Set,
Gil Scott Heron,
Bang On A Can,
The Star Department,
Babytalk,
Porter Ricks,
Sam Rivers,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Harpers Bizarre,
Tomorrow,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Ponytail,
The Last Poets,
OOIOO,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Minutemen,
Electric Light Orchestra,
New Age Steppers,
Amon Düül II,
The Evens,
Alphaville,
The Raincoats,
Eric Dolphy,
Skarface,
The Monks,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Tropical Tobacco,
Ultra Naté, Ultra Naté, Ultra Naté, Ultra Naté.
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.