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 Brunei and from Portland.
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 1968 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Philadelphia and Spokane.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Glasgow 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 clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Hot Snakes to the punk kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Angels of Light & Akron/Family. All the underground hits.
All Neil Young & Crazy Horse tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Dorothy Ashby record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Marvin Gaye record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Niagra,
Kayak,
Soft Cell,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Wally Richardson,
Moss Icon,
The Evens,
Urselle,
Sonny Sharrock,
Rites of Spring,
Marcia Griffiths,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Lyres,
The Neon Judgement,
The Electric Prunes,
Ohio Players,
The Blackbyrds,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Black Pus,
Alison Limerick,
48th St. Collective,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Kevin Saunderson,
The Angels of Light,
AZ,
Guru Guru,
Suburban Knight,
Loose Ends,
The Searchers,
Pussy Galore,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Technova,
The Detroit Cobras,
Wolf Eyes,
Darondo,
Isaac Hayes,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Television Personalities,
The Velvet Underground,
the Swans,
The Beau Brummels,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Funkadelic,
Essential Logic,
The Last Poets,
Pierre Henry,
Zero Boys,
Tropical Tobacco,
Jimmy McGriff,
The Durutti Column,
U.S. Maple,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Matthew Bourne,
Mars,
Lungfish,
Terrestrial Tones,
Rufus Thomas,
Pylon,
Nico,
Agent Orange, Agent Orange, Agent Orange, Agent Orange.
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.