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 Costa Rica and from Columbus.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Buzzcocks show in Bolton.
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 1964 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manchester and Jakarta.
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 1968 at the first Can practice in a loft in Cologne.
I was working on the linndrum 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 West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band to the techno 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 Be Bop Deluxe. All the underground hits.
All Mantronix tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Bauhaus record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a mellotron and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Names record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Tommy Roe,
Skaos,
The Music Machine,
Zero Boys,
Blancmange,
Gerry Rafferty,
The Skatalites,
Stockholm Monsters,
The Smiths,
The Selecter,
Youth Brigade,
Depeche Mode,
La Düsseldorf,
Spandau Ballet,
Glenn Branca,
New York Dolls,
Qualms,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Lindisfarne,
John Foxx,
AZ,
The Cramps,
Pole,
Ultravox,
Alice Coltrane,
Man Parrish,
Tres Demented,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Monolake,
Lalann,
Icehouse,
Lightning Bolt,
Franke,
Radiohead,
Royal Trux,
Pierre Henry,
Idris Muhammad,
The Gun Club,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Quadrant,
Television Personalities,
MC5,
Liliput,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Scion,
Interpol,
MDC,
The Saints,
Agitation Free,
Gang of Four,
Motorama,
The J.B.'s,
Aural Exciters,
Eddi Front,
Shoche,
Yazoo,
Skriet,
Gil Scott Heron,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Rapeman, Rapeman, Rapeman, Rapeman.
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.