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 Taiwan and from Beijing.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Josef K show in Edinburgh.
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 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Sao Paulo and Toronto.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Shanghai 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 spring reverb 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 Index to the punk kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Max Romeo. All the underground hits.
All Wally Richardson tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Happenings record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Avey Tare record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
James Chance & The Contortions,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Popol Vuh,
Groovy Waters,
Soulsonic Force,
8 Eyed Spy,
Faust,
Donald Byrd,
Minor Threat,
Curtis Mayfield,
Funky Four + One,
The Leaves,
Connie Case,
Terry Callier,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Boredoms,
Charles Mingus,
Pere Ubu,
Loose Ends,
The Walker Brothers,
Easy Going,
Steve Hackett,
Camberwell Now,
Terrestrial Tones,
JFA,
Quantec,
Alphaville,
Soul II Soul,
The Fire Engines,
Stiv Bators,
The Wake,
Matthew Halsall,
Boz Scaggs,
EPMD,
Moby Grape,
Agent Orange,
Slick Rick,
Gabor Szabo,
Bill Wells,
The Sound,
Althea and Donna,
Arthur Verocai,
Blancmange,
The Angels of Light,
David McCallum,
Delon & Dalcan,
Reagan Youth,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Max Romeo,
The Names,
Suicide,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Massinfluence,
Q and Not U,
James White and The Blacks,
Glenn Branca,
The Slits,
The Dave Clark Five,
Carl Craig,
Mantronix,
The Modern Lovers,
Spandau Ballet, Spandau Ballet, Spandau Ballet, Spandau Ballet.
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.