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 Moldova and from Glasgow.
But I was there.
I was there in 1978.
I was there at the first Visage show in 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 1960 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Woodstock and Philadelphia.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school London 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 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 U.S. Maple to the grunge 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 X-101. All the underground hits.
All Alphaville tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Saccharine Trust record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap 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 oboe and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Marcia Griffiths record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Sarah Menescal,
Electric Prunes,
Donny Hathaway,
Flash Fearless,
Mary Jane Girls,
Jerry's Kids,
Gang Green,
Amon Düül,
The Leaves,
Jacob Miller,
Soulsonic Force,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Ossler,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Radio Birdman,
Wire,
Robert Görl,
Brick,
Wasted Youth,
The Kinks,
Cameo,
Derrick Morgan,
Soul II Soul,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Juan Atkins,
Magma,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
The Seeds,
Be Bop Deluxe,
L. Decosne,
Slave,
Tears for Fears,
Colin Newman,
Agent Orange,
OOIOO,
Pet Shop Boys,
Eric B and Rakim,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
The Grass Roots,
Babytalk,
Flamin' Groovies,
H. Thieme,
Leonard Cohen,
The Moody Blues,
James White and The Blacks,
Crispian St. Peters,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Section 25,
Khruangbin,
Marvin Gaye,
Liliput,
Talk Talk,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
The Stooges,
UT,
JFA,
The Gladiators,
The Doobie Brothers,
Howard Jones,
Simply Red,
Lebanon Hanover,
Marshall Jefferson, Marshall Jefferson, Marshall Jefferson, Marshall Jefferson.
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.