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 Luxembourg and from Taipei.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Human League show in Sheffield.
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 1962 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and Mexico City.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Columbus 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 marimba 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 John Holt to the crunk kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Kerrie Biddell. All the underground hits.
All Robert Wyatt tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Be Bop Deluxe record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Beasts of Bourbon,
Charles Mingus,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
DNA,
Spoonie Gee,
Pole,
the Human League,
Chris & Cosey,
Magazine,
Sound Behaviour,
Jandek,
Jacques Brel,
Kenny Larkin,
June Days,
Marvin Gaye,
Motorama,
The Names,
Model 500,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
FM Einheit,
Easy Going,
Dave Gahan,
Mary Jane Girls,
The Cure,
Bobby Byrd,
Buzzcocks,
Michelle Simonal,
The Neon Judgement,
Excepter,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
The Velvet Underground,
The Gories,
Byron Stingily,
the Sonics,
The Evens,
Throbbing Gristle,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Chris Corsano,
Eve St. Jones,
Inner City,
Scrapy,
The Red Krayola,
Grandmaster Flash,
MDC,
Jesper Dahlback,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Isaac Hayes,
Yellowson,
Ohio Players,
Wings,
Suburban Knight,
Sarah Menescal,
Idris Muhammad,
the Germs,
Nas,
Intrusion,
Black Moon,
David Bowie,
Tommy Roe,
Scan 7,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Interpol,
Monolake,
Jerry's Kids,
Livin' Joy, Livin' Joy, Livin' Joy, Livin' Joy.
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.