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 Solomon Islands and from Accra.
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 1962 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Edmonton and Manila.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Johannesburg 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 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 Accadde A to the jazz 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 The Angels of Light. All the underground hits.
All the Association tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Pop Group record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
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 Henry Cow record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro 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?
Average White Band,
Inner City,
The Black Dice,
John Foxx,
The Cowsills,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Kerrie Biddell,
The Evens,
Anthony Braxton,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Surgeon,
Nils Olav,
Depeche Mode,
DNA,
Fugazi,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Ice-T,
Patti Smith,
Circle Jerks,
Slick Rick,
Judy Mowatt,
Brass Construction,
Kerri Chandler,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Spoonie Gee,
Barbara Tucker,
Byron Stingily,
The Wake,
Hashim,
Godley & Creme,
Max Romeo,
Lalo Schifrin,
Marine Girls,
Arthur Verocai,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
John Lydon,
Sandy B,
Pet Shop Boys,
Roy Ayers,
Vainqueur,
ABBA,
Kaleidoscope,
Brick,
The Invisible,
Skaos,
Sonic Youth,
X-101,
Leonard Cohen,
Bobby Sherman,
Warren Ellis,
Bobby Byrd,
Tropical Tobacco,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Juan Atkins,
Deadbeat,
The Doors,
Altered Images,
Crash Course in Science,
Sparks,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
The Zeros,
Monolake, Monolake, Monolake, Monolake.
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.