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 Sweden and from Johannesburg.
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 1960 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manchester and New York.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Copenhagen 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 synthesizer 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 Sexual Harrassment to the disco 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 The Toasters. All the underground hits.
All Monks tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Avey Tare record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a New Age Steppers record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Zeros,
The United States of America,
The Moody Blues,
Colin Newman,
Suburban Knight,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Andrew Hill,
Can,
MDC,
Crash Course in Science,
Althea and Donna,
Wire,
The Detroit Cobras,
Ituana,
Maurizio,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Hardrive,
The Mummies,
The Alarm Clocks,
Jimmy McGriff,
Reagan Youth,
The Dave Clark Five,
Flipper,
Warren Ellis,
Organ,
Fad Gadget,
10cc,
Sugar Minott,
Main Source,
Mary Jane Girls,
Barry Ungar,
Laurel Aitken,
Echospace,
Avey Tare,
The Durutti Column,
Rhythm & Sound,
Lungfish,
Lightning Bolt,
Yazoo,
Glambeats Corp.,
Peter and Kerry,
Lou Reed,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Warsaw,
Ludus,
The J.B.'s,
The Fire Engines,
Oneida,
Sound Behaviour,
Visage,
Ken Boothe,
Jeru the Damaja,
Marshall Jefferson,
Dead Boys,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Don Cherry,
The Trojans,
Tomorrow,
Harmonia,
The Barracudas,
the Fania All-Stars,
Bad Manners,
Quantec, Quantec, Quantec, Quantec.
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.