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 Lebanon and from Hong Kong.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Neu! show in Düsseldorf.
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 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Madrid and Manila.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Beijing 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 1979 at the first Second Layer practice in a loft in South London.
I was working on the clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Can to the rap kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Black Flag. All the underground hits.
All Basic Channel tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Bang on a Can All-Stars record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Vogues record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Godley & Creme,
Q65,
Clear Light,
Echospace,
Excepter,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Junior Murvin,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
The Doors,
Arthur Verocai,
Jandek,
The Cowsills,
Rakim,
Loose Ends,
Rosa Yemen,
Nik Kershaw,
Wally Richardson,
Bad Manners,
The Leaves,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Scratch Acid,
Rufus Thomas,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Lou Christie,
Banda Bassotti,
Delon & Dalcan,
Interpol,
Public Image Ltd.,
Franke,
Ohio Players,
Johnny Clarke,
The Happenings,
Oblivians,
Procol Harum,
Leonard Cohen,
Crash Course in Science,
Bush Tetras,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Dorothy Ashby,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Amon Düül,
Cybotron,
June Days,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Suburban Knight,
Quantec,
Barry Ungar,
Sparks,
Youth Brigade,
The Velvet Underground,
Nirvana,
Derrick May,
Vainqueur,
Lindisfarne,
Minor Threat,
The Monks,
Sexual Harrassment,
Gang Green,
The Detroit Cobras,
Lakeside,
The Smoke, The Smoke, The Smoke, The Smoke.
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.