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 Ecuador and from Lagos.
But I was there.
I was there in 1975.
I was there at the first Throbbing Gristle show in London.
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 1961 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Columbus and Accra.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Toronto 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 synthesizer sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Theoretical Girls 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 Leonard Cohen. All the underground hits.
All Drive Like Jehu tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Scott Walker + Sunn O))) record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
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 The United States of America record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Pretty Things,
Tom Boy,
MDC,
DNA,
Lucky Dragons,
Erykah Badu,
The Saints,
Alison Limerick,
Banda Bassotti,
Silicon Teens,
Archie Shepp,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Brothers Johnson,
Vainqueur,
Eric Copeland,
Crime,
Jesper Dahlback,
The Fuzztones,
Barrington Levy,
La Düsseldorf,
Jerry Gold Smith,
The J.B.'s,
Stiv Bators,
Gang Green,
Suicide,
Gil Scott Heron,
Unwound,
Soft Machine,
Gabor Szabo,
Lakeside,
Whodini,
Dorothy Ashby,
The Alarm Clocks,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Cymande,
Isaac Hayes,
Albert Ayler,
Das Ding,
F. McDonald,
Fear,
DJ Style,
Henry Cow,
The Fugs,
Stereo Dub,
This Heat,
Spoonie Gee,
kango's stein massive,
Bronski Beat,
Scratch Acid,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Marvin Gaye,
Cal Tjader,
Vladislav Delay,
Fugazi,
The Young Rascals,
Girls At Our Best!,
Patti Smith,
The Searchers,
Drexciya,
Heaven 17,
Carl Craig, Carl Craig, Carl Craig, Carl Craig.
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.