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 Antigua and from Bologna.
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 1963 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in London and Manila.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Shanghai 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 guitar 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 The Music Machine to the grime 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 Nils Olav. All the underground hits.
All The Names tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Theoretical Girls 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Slave record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Fugs,
Crash Course in Science,
Henry Cow,
Bobby Womack,
Radiopuhelimet,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Mandrill,
the Swans,
The Stooges,
Lou Christie,
Rapeman,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
The Music Machine,
Jacques Brel,
The Saints,
Magma,
Piero Umiliani,
Eurythmics,
The Doors,
Bill Near,
Pussy Galore,
Avey Tare,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
The Toasters,
Gastr Del Sol,
The Sonics,
Absolute Body Control,
X-101,
The Alarm Clocks,
Heaven 17,
Man Eating Sloth,
Arab on Radar,
Half Japanese,
Motorama,
KRS-One,
Gerry Rafferty,
Toni Rubio,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Niagra,
Faust,
Yazoo,
MC5,
The Victims,
The Index,
Kayak,
Ronan,
Tommy Roe,
Byron Stingily,
DJ Style,
8 Eyed Spy,
the Sonics,
Unwound,
Excepter,
Funky Four + One,
Main Source,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Clear Light,
Steve Hackett,
Yusef Lateef,
Au Pairs,
Dark Day,
Letta Mbulu,
K-Klass,
Agent Orange, Agent Orange, Agent Orange, Agent Orange.
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.