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 Brunei and from Accra.
But I was there.
I was there in 1983.
I was there at the first Bronski Beat show in Brixton.
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 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in London and Stockholm.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Bremen 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 Curtis Mayfield to the funk 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 Black Bananas. All the underground hits.
All Sly & The Family Stone tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Echo & the Bunnymen 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Music Machine record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Yellowson,
Soft Cell,
Charles Mingus,
Rites of Spring,
Fad Gadget,
Make Up,
The Buckinghams,
The Count Five,
The Monks,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
The Move,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Faust,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Roger Hodgson,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Rosa Yemen,
The Invisible,
Freddie Wadling,
Grauzone,
Gastr Del Sol,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
The Angels of Light,
Sam Rivers,
The Moleskins,
Slick Rick,
Michelle Simonal,
10cc,
The Modern Lovers,
Animal Collective,
The Wake,
Television Personalities,
Vladislav Delay,
E-Dancer,
Kaleidoscope,
The Motions,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Goldenarms,
Andrew Hill,
Spoonie Gee,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Lightning Bolt,
Pussy Galore,
Neu!,
Thompson Twins,
Pierre Henry,
The Neon Judgement,
Inner City,
Monolake,
Johnny Osbourne,
Zapp,
La Düsseldorf,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
R.M.O.,
The Slackers,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Barbara Tucker,
Mandrill,
Silicon Teens,
Fear,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Susan Cadogan, Susan Cadogan, Susan Cadogan, Susan Cadogan.
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.