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 Comoros and from Edmonton.
But I was there.
I was there in 1970.
I was there at the first Onyeabor show in Enugu.
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 1965 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Stockholm and Halifax.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Seoul 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 clarinet 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 The Blackbyrds to the rap 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 Gladiators. All the underground hits.
All Tomorrow tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Tears for Fears record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge 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 sitar and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a the Swans record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Sonics,
Alison Limerick,
Ultimate Spinach,
The Victims,
Minor Threat,
Supertramp,
Tres Demented,
The Five Americans,
Sparks,
Massinfluence,
Ituana,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Todd Terry,
Deakin,
Silicon Teens,
Average White Band,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Morten Harket,
Roxy Music,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Bill Wells,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Von Mondo,
Gong,
Joe Smooth,
Drive Like Jehu,
Echospace,
Matthew Halsall,
Gil Scott Heron,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
World's Most,
The Raincoats,
Fad Gadget,
Arab on Radar,
Joe Finger,
Jesper Dahlback,
Simply Red,
Con Funk Shun,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Gerry Rafferty,
Eve St. Jones,
The Fall,
Matthew Bourne,
Sixth Finger,
Guru Guru,
Cheater Slicks,
Groovy Waters,
Eric B and Rakim,
The Trojans,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Jeru the Damaja,
Roxette,
Camberwell Now,
Cybotron,
In Retrospect,
Heaven 17,
Sound Behaviour,
The Names,
Hardrive,
Lou Reed,
Aaron Thompson,
Fela Kuti,
Mary Jane Girls,
The Misunderstood, The Misunderstood, The Misunderstood, The Misunderstood.
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.