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 Guatemala and from London.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Selda show in Istanbul.
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 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bologna and Cairo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Jakarta 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 synthesizer sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Flash Fearless to the rap kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Joy Division. All the underground hits.
All KRS-One tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Colin Newman record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a chamberlin and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Swans record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Don Cherry,
Animal Collective,
Blake Baxter,
Ultimate Spinach,
Ken Boothe,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
the Soft Cell,
Y Pants,
Niagra,
Desert Stars,
Darondo,
The Wake,
Dennis Brown,
Scan 7,
Agent Orange,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Marshall Jefferson,
The American Breed,
Mad Mike,
Joensuu 1685,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Clear Light,
Stetsasonic,
ABC,
Television,
Connie Case,
The Skatalites,
Minutemen,
The Dave Clark Five,
John Foxx,
Negative Approach,
The Dead C,
Marc Almond,
The Pretty Things,
Ornette Coleman,
Brass Construction,
Panda Bear,
ABBA,
Idris Muhammad,
B.T. Express,
Glambeats Corp.,
Bill Near,
Ituana,
Monolake,
Sexual Harrassment,
Zapp,
Jimmy McGriff,
Colin Newman,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
The Cowsills,
Pere Ubu,
Public Image Ltd.,
Los Fastidios,
Girls At Our Best!,
Smog,
Rotary Connection,
Harry Pussy,
The United States of America,
Dark Day,
Minny Pops,
Q and Not U,
Sister Nancy, Sister Nancy, Sister Nancy, Sister Nancy.
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.