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 Angola and from Beijing.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Josef K show in Edinburgh.
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 1962 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Johannesburg and Jakarta.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Cairo 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 chamberlin 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 A Certain Ratio to the rap 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 Sun Ra Arkestra. All the underground hits.
All Spoonie Gee tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Tubeway Army record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Nation of Ulysses record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Visage,
Half Japanese,
The Invisible,
Bill Wells,
48th St. Collective,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Lungfish,
T. Rex,
The Move,
Gichy Dan,
The United States of America,
LL Cool J,
Arthur Verocai,
DJ Style,
Young Marble Giants,
Tres Demented,
Bizarre Inc.,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
the Normal,
Pylon,
Pagans,
Surgeon,
Altered Images,
Janne Schatter,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
The Blackbyrds,
Kaleidoscope,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Marvin Gaye,
Letta Mbulu,
Marcia Griffiths,
Ken Boothe,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Ronnie Foster,
Curtis Mayfield,
Maurizio,
Hashim,
China Crisis,
The Gladiators,
The Real Kids,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Rapeman,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Nation of Ulysses,
Kenny Larkin,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Accadde A,
Negative Approach,
Man Parrish,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
The Angels of Light,
Reagan Youth,
The Music Machine,
Vladislav Delay,
Monks,
The New Christs,
Marine Girls,
Juan Atkins,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Neil Young,
Black Flag,
Fat Boys, Fat Boys, Fat Boys, Fat Boys.
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.