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 Suriname and from Beijing.
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 1966 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Houston and Manchester.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Hong Kong 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 snare sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Henry Cow to the funk kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Vainqueur. All the underground hits.
All Quadrant tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Aswad 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Selector Dub Narcotic record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Robert Wyatt,
Crooked Eye,
Monks,
Josef K,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
The Happenings,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Zapp,
Howard Jones,
Silicon Teens,
Technova,
Scion,
Japan,
The Fire Engines,
Nation of Ulysses,
Tubeway Army,
Crispian St. Peters,
R.M.O.,
LL Cool J,
The Mummies,
Hot Snakes,
Black Sheep,
Ossler,
Delon & Dalcan,
Matthew Bourne,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Dead Boys,
John Holt,
The United States of America,
Public Enemy,
Visage,
Basic Channel,
Skaos,
Theoretical Girls,
Jeru the Damaja,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
48th St. Collective,
Swell Maps,
Joey Negro,
Bronski Beat,
Glenn Branca,
Essential Logic,
ABC,
One Last Wish,
Jeff Mills,
Cymande,
Fatback Band,
Ohio Players,
Slave,
Man Eating Sloth,
Sugar Minott,
Mary Jane Girls,
Marmalade,
JFA,
Slick Rick,
Flamin' Groovies,
Sound Behaviour,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Alphaville,
Sister Nancy,
Average White Band,
Thee Headcoats, Thee Headcoats, Thee Headcoats, Thee Headcoats.
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.