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 Ethiopia and from Madrid.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Selda show in Istanbul.
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 Lagos and Halifax.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Calgary 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 Tom Verlaine 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 Mission of Burma to the dance kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 H. Thieme. All the underground hits.
All Juan Atkins tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Piero Umiliani record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a snare and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Public Enemy record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator 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 Angels of Light,
Porter Ricks,
Electric Prunes,
Kerrie Biddell,
La Düsseldorf,
The Star Department,
Warsaw,
Jimmy McGriff,
Joe Finger,
Sarah Menescal,
Pulsallama,
Country Joe & The Fish,
John Coltrane,
F. McDonald,
The Happenings,
Lee Hazlewood,
CMW,
Derrick May,
The Trojans,
Black Pus,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Spoonie Gee,
Marvin Gaye,
Cal Tjader,
Mandrill,
Sexual Harrassment,
Nas,
Kurtis Blow,
Soulsonic Force,
a-ha,
Glenn Branca,
The Skatalites,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Gang Gang Dance,
Curtis Mayfield,
Boz Scaggs,
Moebius,
Popol Vuh,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Chris & Cosey,
Smog,
Malaria!,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Main Source,
K-Klass,
Byron Stingily,
the Sonics,
Con Funk Shun,
Gabor Szabo,
The J.B.'s,
Theoretical Girls,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
James Chance & The Contortions,
The Cramps,
Aloha Tigers,
MC5,
Wolf Eyes,
The Martian,
Bizarre Inc., Bizarre Inc., Bizarre Inc., Bizarre Inc..
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.