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 Peru and from Taipei.
But I was there.
I was there in 1975.
I was there at the first Ubu show in Cleveland.
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 1969 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Copenhagen and Bremen.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Madrid 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 oboe sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Terry Callier to the grunge 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 Red Krayola. All the underground hits.
All The Royal Family And The Poor tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Aural Exciters record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Ohio Players record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Juan Atkins,
The Cure,
Smog,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Alice Coltrane,
Sun City Girls,
Dorothy Ashby,
Pet Shop Boys,
Yaz,
Dual Sessions,
Jacob Miller,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
The Modern Lovers,
Crispian St. Peters,
Moby Grape,
Black Pus,
Agitation Free,
Gang Starr,
The Star Department,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
The Techniques,
Black Flag,
Johnny Clarke,
The Moleskins,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Bang On A Can,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
The Walker Brothers,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Ultra Naté,
Wally Richardson,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Buzzcocks,
Pantaleimon,
Donald Byrd,
Nation of Ulysses,
Dennis Brown,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Boz Scaggs,
John Coltrane,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Guru Guru,
Alton Ellis,
Jimmy McGriff,
The Moody Blues,
New York Dolls,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Funky Four + One,
Lalo Schifrin,
Ponytail,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Godley & Creme,
Letta Mbulu,
The Detroit Cobras,
Girls At Our Best!,
The Cramps,
Howard Jones,
Anthony Braxton,
Deadbeat,
One Last Wish,
Public Image Ltd.,
Zero Boys, Zero Boys, Zero Boys, Zero Boys.
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.