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 Spain and from Winnipeg.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Human League show in Sheffield.
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 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Shanghai and Houston.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Madrid 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 1971 at the first Neu! practice in a loft in Düsseldorf.
I was working on the clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 The Birthday Party to the disco kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Skarface. All the underground hits.
All Liliput tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Manfred Mann's Earth Band record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a 808 and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a spring reverb.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Tom Boy,
Jandek,
DNA,
Max Romeo,
Faust,
X-101,
Terry Callier,
Soft Machine,
Kool Moe Dee,
Kurtis Blow,
Yaz,
Bobby Byrd,
The Techniques,
The Red Krayola,
D'Angelo,
Sight & Sound,
The Doobie Brothers,
Pussy Galore,
Soulsonic Force,
Fear,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
The Mojo Men,
Ultimate Spinach,
Letta Mbulu,
AZ,
Joyce Sims,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
The Smiths,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Faraquet,
Ponytail,
Prince Buster,
The Young Rascals,
The Litter,
Eli Mardock,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
The Velvet Underground,
Delon & Dalcan,
Eric Dolphy,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Lee Hazlewood,
Aural Exciters,
The Monochrome Set,
Brick,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
the Human League,
Sex Pistols,
The United States of America,
Tomorrow,
PIL,
Connie Case,
Cecil Taylor,
Matthew Halsall,
Shuggie Otis,
James Chance & The Contortions,
The Gun Club,
Joe Finger,
EPMD,
Television Personalities,
Gerry Rafferty,
Wally Richardson,
Eden Ahbez,
Gang of Four, Gang of Four, Gang of Four, Gang of Four.
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.