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 Somalia and from Tehran.
But I was there.
I was there in 1968.
I was there at the first Can show in Cologne.
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 1963 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Toronto and Johannesburg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lyon 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 oboe sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx to the techno kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 John Cale. All the underground hits.
All Traffic Nightmare tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Laurel Aitken 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a snare and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Camberwell Now record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
ABC,
X-101,
T.S.O.L.,
The Slits,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Alton Ellis,
The Pop Group,
Boz Scaggs,
Chris & Cosey,
Brand Nubian,
Nas,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Stiv Bators,
Bobby Womack,
The Alarm Clocks,
Severed Heads,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
The Stooges,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Circle Jerks,
Roger Hodgson,
Joyce Sims,
The Star Department,
The Sonics,
Black Pus,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Unrelated Segments,
Sun Ra,
Y Pants,
Brothers Johnson,
Skarface,
Fad Gadget,
Ralphi Rosario,
Davy DMX,
The Divine Comedy,
Ultimate Spinach,
Masters at Work,
Groovy Waters,
Crispy Ambulance,
Colin Newman,
Eurythmics,
Main Source,
Rakim,
Make Up,
Faraquet,
James Chance & The Contortions,
The Residents,
The Dead C,
Man Eating Sloth,
Byron Stingily,
X-102,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
The Leaves,
The Selecter,
Pole,
Flash Fearless,
Massinfluence,
Bang On A Can,
Alphaville, Alphaville, Alphaville, Alphaville.
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.