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 Thailand and from Woodstock.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Soft Boys show in Cambridge.
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 1967 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tokyo and Accra.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 spring reverb sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Lebanon Hanover to the dance kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Television Personalities. All the underground hits.
All Visage tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Sugar Minott 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Fad Gadget record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Matthew Halsall,
The Five Americans,
Danielle Patucci,
Tim Buckley,
Albert Ayler,
Prince Buster,
L. Decosne,
Kayak,
Fela Kuti,
Pagans,
The Velvet Underground,
Swell Maps,
The Searchers,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Cameo,
James Chance & The Contortions,
The Offenders,
Boredoms,
R.M.O.,
the Association,
Thee Headcoats,
Steve Hackett,
Spandau Ballet,
Sugar Minott,
the Slits,
Reagan Youth,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
The Dave Clark Five,
Tears for Fears,
Curtis Mayfield,
Section 25,
The Saints,
Skarface,
Cybotron,
Faraquet,
Theoretical Girls,
Brothers Johnson,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
A Certain Ratio,
The Mojo Men,
Lebanon Hanover,
Gastr Del Sol,
The Toasters,
New York Dolls,
Flipper,
Porter Ricks,
Livin' Joy,
U.S. Maple,
Davy DMX,
Khruangbin,
Black Moon,
Magazine,
Pere Ubu,
Janne Schatter,
The Gap Band,
Jawbox,
Easy Going,
The United States of America,
In Retrospect,
Quadrant,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Barbara Tucker,
Byron Stingily,
Bob Dylan, Bob Dylan, Bob Dylan, Bob Dylan.
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.