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 South Africa and from Lagos.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Second Layer show in South 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 1969 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Shanghai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manchester 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 Robert Palmer 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 Aaron Thompson to the punk kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Nico. All the underground hits.
All Khruangbin tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Offenders 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Echo & the Bunnymen record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Slits,
The Mummies,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Jandek,
Echospace,
Neil Young,
The Fall,
The J.B.'s,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Peter & Gordon,
Swell Maps,
Bang On A Can,
Frankie Knuckles,
Harry Pussy,
Cecil Taylor,
Kerri Chandler,
Stetsasonic,
the Germs,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Mission of Burma,
Jesper Dahlback,
The Toasters,
The Residents,
Depeche Mode,
Duran Duran,
Kas Product,
Dark Day,
Adolescents,
Al Stewart,
Alphaville,
Cybotron,
Buzzcocks,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
DNA,
Aloha Tigers,
Ten City,
The Wake,
Lower 48,
Patti Smith,
Tubeway Army,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Roxette,
H. Thieme,
Yaz,
Kaleidoscope,
Jeff Mills,
The Misunderstood,
Colin Newman,
John Holt,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Eddi Front,
Au Pairs,
Girls At Our Best!,
The Gories,
Slick Rick,
Mad Mike,
The Mojo Men,
Sex Pistols,
Stockholm Monsters,
The Cure, The Cure, The Cure, The Cure.
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.