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 Somalia and from Accra.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Feelies show in Haledon.
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 1968 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Johannesburg and Delhi.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lille 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 theremin sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Teenage Jesus and the Jerks to the punk 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 Richard Hell and the Voidoids. All the underground hits.
All Dave Gahan tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Barry Ungar record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a R.M.O. record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Fort Wilson Riot,
the Human League,
Reagan Youth,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Hardrive,
Barclay James Harvest,
Frankie Knuckles,
Barbara Tucker,
Eric Copeland,
Avey Tare,
The Selecter,
The Human League,
Unwound,
Junior Murvin,
Dead Boys,
Animal Collective,
Das Ding,
Glambeats Corp.,
Fat Boys,
Drexciya,
Visage,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Sun City Girls,
Pylon,
Fatback Band,
Colin Newman,
In Retrospect,
JFA,
New Order,
The Zeros,
Big Daddy Kane,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
The Five Americans,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Joe Smooth,
Juan Atkins,
The Dead C,
The New Christs,
Mandrill,
Davy DMX,
David Bowie,
Sonny Sharrock,
Sonic Youth,
DJ Style,
Soul Sonic Force,
Arab on Radar,
Brass Construction,
The Durutti Column,
Jeru the Damaja,
Skaos,
The Vogues,
Jeff Lynne,
Glenn Branca,
Bill Wells,
Cybotron,
The Walker Brothers,
John Foxx,
Black Bananas,
Faraquet,
Susan Cadogan,
R.M.O.,
Laurel Aitken,
Alice Coltrane, Alice Coltrane, Alice Coltrane, Alice Coltrane.
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.