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 Madagascar and from Philadelphia.
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 1966 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Calgary and Accra.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Glasgow 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 synthesizer sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Bobby Byrd to the grime 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 Joensuu 1685. All the underground hits.
All The Divine Comedy tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Sugar Minott 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Gladiators record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Birthday Party,
Alton Ellis,
David Bowie,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
The Busters,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Saccharine Trust,
Crooked Eye,
These Immortal Souls,
Joy Division,
Easy Going,
Con Funk Shun,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
The Martian,
Unwound,
Lalo Schifrin,
The New Christs,
Warren Ellis,
Aaron Thompson,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Jandek,
The Red Krayola,
Sam Rivers,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
The Fire Engines,
Public Enemy,
The Happenings,
Avey Tare,
AZ,
Cecil Taylor,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Flamin' Groovies,
Ronnie Foster,
Radiopuhelimet,
Moss Icon,
Scientists,
OOIOO,
Johnny Clarke,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Brick,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Boz Scaggs,
Infiniti,
the Human League,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Deakin,
Fatback Band,
Fat Boys,
Fear,
The Pretty Things,
Jeff Mills,
Lower 48,
Arthur Verocai,
Simply Red,
Eden Ahbez,
The Toasters,
Kenny Larkin,
Roy Ayers,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Rufus Thomas,
Inner City, Inner City, Inner City, Inner City.
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.