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 Guinea-Bissau and from Cairo.
But I was there.
I was there in 1975.
I was there at the first Ubu show in Cleveland.
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 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Houston and Paris.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manila 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 Lou Reed 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 Gerry Rafferty to the electroclash kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Kurtis Blow. All the underground hits.
All Donny Hathaway tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Johnny Clarke record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Erasure record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Flesh Eaters,
the Soft Cell,
Ultimate Spinach,
Liliput,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Donald Byrd,
a-ha,
Howard Jones,
La Düsseldorf,
John Foxx,
Flipper,
The Raincoats,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
The Smoke,
Tom Boy,
Mark Hollis,
Scion,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Crash Course in Science,
Bill Near,
R.M.O.,
Cameo,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Mission of Burma,
Roy Ayers,
The Five Americans,
Groovy Waters,
Rhythm & Sound,
D'Angelo,
Bang On A Can,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Sarah Menescal,
Trumans Water,
The Saints,
The Cramps,
Dawn Penn,
Flash Fearless,
The Neon Judgement,
Supertramp,
Livin' Joy,
Saccharine Trust,
The Gap Band,
Roger Hodgson,
The Offenders,
Adolescents,
Average White Band,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Anakelly,
Metal Thangz,
The Misunderstood,
Heaven 17,
U.S. Maple,
Crispian St. Peters,
Stetsasonic,
Drive Like Jehu,
Deepchord,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Traffic Nightmare,
Gang Green,
Scratch Acid,
Massinfluence,
Barbara Tucker,
Black Pus, Black Pus, Black Pus, Black Pus.
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.