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 Nauru and from Spokane.
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 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tokyo and Beijing.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Columbus 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 mellotron 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 Eric B and Rakim to the rap 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 David Bowie. All the underground hits.
All Shoche tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every PIL 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Fad Gadget record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet 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?
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Nick Fraelich,
Echospace,
PIL,
Shoche,
Graham Central Station,
Dual Sessions,
Index,
Khruangbin,
Henry Cow,
Y Pants,
Nils Olav,
Terrestrial Tones,
London Community Gospel Choir,
The Birthday Party,
Nation of Ulysses,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Bobby Byrd,
The Seeds,
The Dead C,
John Cale,
The Pretty Things,
The Residents,
Soul II Soul,
Gang Green,
Heaven 17,
The Modern Lovers,
Popol Vuh,
Scion,
Alice Coltrane,
Banda Bassotti,
The Martian,
Peter & Gordon,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Barbara Tucker,
Leonard Cohen,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Funky Four + One,
Janne Schatter,
Slick Rick,
Absolute Body Control,
Radio Birdman,
Dawn Penn,
Brass Construction,
Fela Kuti,
Metal Thangz,
Michelle Simonal,
Danielle Patucci,
Ohio Players,
Traffic Nightmare,
Ken Boothe,
Donny Hathaway,
The Walker Brothers,
Pussy Galore,
Brothers Johnson,
Second Layer,
Wings,
Malaria!,
Suicide, Suicide, Suicide, Suicide.
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.