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 Barbados and from Mumbai.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Second Layer show in South London.
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 1969 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Portland and Portland.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Hong Kong 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 mellotron 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 Suicide to the disco kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Althea and Donna. All the underground hits.
All Lalo Schifrin tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Faust record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk 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 harpsichord and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Cybotron record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Remains,
MDC,
Reagan Youth,
Rufus Thomas,
Lalo Schifrin,
Toni Rubio,
Stetsasonic,
In Retrospect,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Marcia Griffiths,
Wasted Youth,
the Germs,
Pet Shop Boys,
The Doors,
Robert Wyatt,
Ohio Players,
The Gun Club,
Piero Umiliani,
Jeff Mills,
Interpol,
Crime,
Lucky Dragons,
F. McDonald,
Cymande,
Anakelly,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Sugar Minott,
The Blackbyrds,
Surgeon,
Sun City Girls,
The Flesh Eaters,
Ken Boothe,
Basic Channel,
Icehouse,
Minor Threat,
Jandek,
The Doobie Brothers,
The Detroit Cobras,
Masters at Work,
Soft Cell,
the Soft Cell,
Loose Ends,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
The Selecter,
John Foxx,
Yazoo,
The Beau Brummels,
Mary Jane Girls,
Eden Ahbez,
The Martian,
Fatback Band,
The Pop Group,
Magma,
Pierre Henry,
Lou Reed,
The Star Department,
Banda Bassotti,
Echospace,
The Shadows of Knight,
Iggy Pop,
Yusef Lateef,
Bang On A Can,
Albert Ayler, Albert Ayler, Albert Ayler, Albert Ayler.
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.