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 Papua New Guinea and from Bologna.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Neu! show in Düsseldorf.
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 Manila and Beijing.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lyon 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 harpsichord sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Blake Baxter to the techno kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Lindisfarne. All the underground hits.
All Jimmy McGriff tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Nas record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a rhodes and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Qualms record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a linndrum.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Television,
Lalo Schifrin,
Lucky Dragons,
The Remains,
Sun City Girls,
Motorama,
The Detroit Cobras,
Barbara Tucker,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Connie Case,
Prince Buster,
Dark Day,
Monolake,
The Flesh Eaters,
Man Parrish,
Reuben Wilson,
MDC,
Bad Manners,
The Gladiators,
Grey Daturas,
Cybotron,
Ludus,
Glenn Branca,
The Doors,
The Buckinghams,
DJ Style,
The Toasters,
The Fugs,
Rufus Thomas,
The Names,
Qualms,
The Cure,
Peter & Gordon,
Minor Threat,
Skriet,
The United States of America,
Drive Like Jehu,
Schoolly D,
The Walker Brothers,
Rod Modell,
Urselle,
Eden Ahbez,
Quadrant,
Charles Mingus,
The J.B.'s,
MC5,
The Motions,
Soft Cell,
Warsaw,
Flash Fearless,
The New Christs,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Pagans,
Mantronix,
The Fall,
Wasted Youth,
Crispian St. Peters,
Babytalk,
The Busters,
Black Sheep,
Jerry Gold Smith, Jerry Gold Smith, Jerry Gold Smith, Jerry Gold 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.