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 Maldives and from Philadelphia.
But I was there.
I was there in 1978.
I was there at the first Visage 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 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manchester and Cairo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Taipei 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 spring reverb 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 Unrelated Segments to the grunge 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 The Associates. All the underground hits.
All Soft Cell tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Lungfish record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Heaven 17 record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Oblivians,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Minnie Riperton,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Big Daddy Kane,
James White and The Blacks,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Babytalk,
Aural Exciters,
Skriet,
the Soft Cell,
Ituana,
Shoche,
T. Rex,
Bobby Womack,
Scan 7,
Nirvana,
The Fuzztones,
Faraquet,
A Flock of Seagulls,
The Sound,
Bang On A Can,
Hoover,
Franke,
The Mojo Men,
R.M.O.,
Suicide,
The Monks,
Bush Tetras,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
The Knickerbockers,
The Standells,
The Residents,
Brothers Johnson,
Sun City Girls,
Public Enemy,
The Misunderstood,
Grandmaster Flash,
Sarah Menescal,
Carl Craig,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
A Certain Ratio,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Bill Near,
The Neon Judgement,
Throbbing Gristle,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Cecil Taylor,
The Smiths,
Derrick May,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Barry Ungar,
Funky Four + One,
B.T. Express,
Pharoah Sanders,
Tubeway Army,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Terrestrial Tones,
Eric Dolphy,
a-ha,
Stiv Bators, Stiv Bators, Stiv Bators, Stiv Bators.
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.