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 Vanuatu and from Seoul.
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 1964 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Portland and Spokane.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manila 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 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 Dorothy Ashby to the grime 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 Neil Young. All the underground hits.
All Art Ensemble Of Chicago tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Max Romeo 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Rosa Yemen record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Dead C,
Lucky Dragons,
Rhythm & Sound,
New York Dolls,
Yellowson,
Gastr Del Sol,
CMW,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Youth Brigade,
Gang of Four,
One Last Wish,
The Young Rascals,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Albert Ayler,
Spandau Ballet,
the Normal,
Animal Collective,
Jandek,
Lindisfarne,
Heaven 17,
Isaac Hayes,
Rosa Yemen,
The Cramps,
Deepchord,
Sun City Girls,
Susan Cadogan,
Soft Machine,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Bill Wells,
Grandmaster Flash,
Marvin Gaye,
Scott Walker,
Curtis Mayfield,
Mad Mike,
Cluster,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
James Chance & The Contortions,
The Slits,
Kenny Larkin,
The Saints,
Glambeats Corp.,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Mo-Dettes,
Pulsallama,
Supertramp,
Sound Behaviour,
Drexciya,
Inner City,
Toni Rubio,
The Gladiators,
Tomorrow,
Bronski Beat,
Patti Smith,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Blancmange,
Sun Ra,
Gerry Rafferty,
Eden Ahbez,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Angry Samoans, Angry Samoans, Angry Samoans, Angry Samoans.
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.