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 Bhutan and from Tehran.
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 1965 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lille and Bologna.
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 1968 at the first Can practice in a loft in Cologne.
I was working on the clarinet 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 Radiopuhelimet to the rap 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 Swans. All the underground hits.
All the Germs tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Lindisfarne 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Robert Wyatt record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Doors,
Animal Collective,
Kerrie Biddell,
Tres Demented,
Bang On A Can,
The Five Americans,
Panda Bear,
John Cale,
Depeche Mode,
Eric Copeland,
The Vogues,
Easy Going,
Roy Ayers,
Oblivians,
Glenn Branca,
One Last Wish,
Dennis Brown,
A Certain Ratio,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Rapeman,
Gregory Isaacs,
Marshall Jefferson,
Agent Orange,
Supertramp,
Lower 48,
Yusef Lateef,
Thee Headcoats,
OOIOO,
The Real Kids,
Colin Newman,
DJ Style,
The New Christs,
Thompson Twins,
The Flesh Eaters,
Andrew Hill,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
The Index,
Jacques Brel,
Mars,
Radiohead,
Nas,
Eddi Front,
Bluetip,
8 Eyed Spy,
Soft Machine,
The Black Dice,
Quando Quango,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Bill Wells,
Freddie Wadling,
Niagra,
Eve St. Jones,
The Red Krayola,
The Blackbyrds,
the Association,
DJ Sneak,
Idris Muhammad,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Aswad,
The Moleskins,
Amon Düül,
Von Mondo,
Livin' Joy,
Section 25,
the Slits, the Slits, the Slits, the Slits.
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.