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 Djibouti and from London.
But I was there.
I was there in 1975.
I was there at the first Ubu show in Cleveland.
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 1967 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in London and Mumbai.
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 808 sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Tropical Tobacco to the dance kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Misunderstood. All the underground hits.
All Agitation Free tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every E-Dancer record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance 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 an organ and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Nik Kershaw record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Japan,
Los Fastidios,
Curtis Mayfield,
Throbbing Gristle,
Quadrant,
Juan Atkins,
Warsaw,
The Victims,
Brand Nubian,
Soft Cell,
Gerry Rafferty,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Sun Ra,
Kurtis Blow,
Pet Shop Boys,
Roy Ayers,
Suicide,
CMW,
Howard Jones,
Clear Light,
Can,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Funkadelic,
The Young Rascals,
DJ Style,
Marshall Jefferson,
Pagans,
the Slits,
Au Pairs,
Derrick Morgan,
Nation of Ulysses,
Dual Sessions,
Ornette Coleman,
Symarip,
The Dave Clark Five,
Alison Limerick,
Todd Rundgren,
Main Source,
The Raincoats,
Jimmy McGriff,
Boogie Down Productions,
Fear,
Sarah Menescal,
Crooked Eye,
Qualms,
Colin Newman,
The Smiths,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
Cluster,
Henry Cow,
Skriet,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
The Evens,
The Doobie Brothers,
The Associates,
Zero Boys,
Television Personalities,
Kayak,
Angry Samoans,
John Coltrane,
The Fire Engines,
Heaven 17,
Basic Channel, Basic Channel, Basic Channel, Basic Channel.
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.