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 Vietnam and from Copenhagen.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Big Star show in Memphis.
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 1963 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manchester and Tehran.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manchester 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 güiro sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Pagans to the crunk 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 Ralphi Rosario. All the underground hits.
All Flash Fearless tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Vogues record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a A Certain Ratio record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
MC5,
Warren Ellis,
The Kinks,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Con Funk Shun,
Erykah Badu,
Tres Demented,
Don Cherry,
Mission of Burma,
Lou Christie,
Eden Ahbez,
Visage,
Unrelated Segments,
Bizarre Inc.,
Tubeway Army,
Jeff Lynne,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Robert Wyatt,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
The Durutti Column,
Ronan,
Buzzcocks,
Thee Headcoats,
Graham Central Station,
Fela Kuti,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
CMW,
Groovy Waters,
China Crisis,
Joensuu 1685,
Faraquet,
James Chance & The Contortions,
The Knickerbockers,
Nik Kershaw,
The Smiths,
D'Angelo,
Connie Case,
The Gladiators,
Can,
Absolute Body Control,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Barry Ungar,
Pagans,
Thompson Twins,
The Misunderstood,
Judy Mowatt,
Clear Light,
Roxette,
Barbara Tucker,
Lyres,
Albert Ayler,
Severed Heads,
A Certain Ratio,
Morten Harket,
The Blues Magoos,
Minnie Riperton,
One Last Wish,
Prince Buster,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Ken Boothe, Ken Boothe, Ken Boothe, Ken Boothe.
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.