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 Cyprus and from Spokane.
But I was there.
I was there in 1968.
I was there at the first Bowie show in Bromley.
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 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Shanghai and Tehran.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Portland 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 clarinet 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 Gastr Del Sol to the grunge kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 June Days. All the underground hits.
All Sällskapet tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Motions record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Swell Maps record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Dark Day,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Thee Headcoats,
Alice Coltrane,
Chrome,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Brass Construction,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Anthony Braxton,
La Düsseldorf,
The Pop Group,
Wings,
Bobby Sherman,
The Names,
David Axelrod,
Gang of Four,
Second Layer,
Maleditus Sound,
Cecil Taylor,
Pylon,
Soft Cell,
Derrick May,
Max Romeo,
Minnie Riperton,
The Dirtbombs,
Procol Harum,
Groovy Waters,
Deakin,
Sun Ra,
Talk Talk,
L. Decosne,
Byron Stingily,
Isaac Hayes,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
New Order,
Camberwell Now,
Neil Young,
Joyce Sims,
The Seeds,
Rod Modell,
MC5,
Patti Smith,
The Velvet Underground,
The Dead C,
Silicon Teens,
The Monks,
Buzzcocks,
Amon Düül,
Zapp,
Matthew Bourne,
Alison Limerick,
The Star Department,
Tears for Fears,
Rufus Thomas,
Dead Boys,
Arcadia,
Fugazi,
Black Bananas,
Niagra,
Derrick Morgan,
The Happenings,
Das Ding,
Gang Green, Gang Green, Gang Green, Gang Green.
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.