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 South Sudan and from Shanghai.
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 1967 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bremen and Cairo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Delhi 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 1977 at the first Mistral practice in a loft in Amsterdam.
I was working on the harpsichord sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Black Flag to the punk kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Organ. All the underground hits.
All Livin' Joy tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every X-Ray Spex record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a mellotron and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Country Joe & The Fish record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Yaz,
Accadde A,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
The Beau Brummels,
Cluster,
Henry Cow,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Dennis Brown,
Tim Buckley,
Surgeon,
Donny Hathaway,
Maurizio,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Jacques Brel,
Little Man,
the Germs,
Mantronix,
Letta Mbulu,
Model 500,
Blake Baxter,
Swans,
James Chance & The Contortions,
The Smiths,
AZ,
The Golliwogs,
Soulsonic Force,
The Skatalites,
The Dead C,
Procol Harum,
LL Cool J,
John Cale,
The Happenings,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Television,
Eddi Front,
Wings,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Iggy Pop,
The Vogues,
Flamin' Groovies,
Cymande,
The Pop Group,
Moss Icon,
The Moleskins,
Eli Mardock,
China Crisis,
Toni Rubio,
Ludus,
Peter & Gordon,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Fatback Band,
Underground Resistance,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Jerry's Kids,
Fear,
James White and The Blacks,
Silicon Teens,
Bob Dylan,
Derrick May, Derrick May, Derrick May, Derrick May.
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.