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 Montenegro and from Madrid.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Second Layer show in South London.
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 1966 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Sao Paulo and Manila.
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 1971 at the first Neu! practice in a loft in Düsseldorf.
I was working on the mellotron sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 The Grass Roots to the dance 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 Motorama. All the underground hits.
All Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Leaves record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a snare and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Hashim record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a linndrum.
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,
Anthony Braxton,
the Slits,
Fela Kuti,
Danielle Patucci,
Au Pairs,
Neu!,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Donny Hathaway,
A Certain Ratio,
Colin Newman,
Theoretical Girls,
Ice-T,
Barbara Tucker,
The Slackers,
Amon Düül II,
Sugar Minott,
Talk Talk,
Morten Harket,
Big Daddy Kane,
Mr. Review,
Loose Ends,
The Dave Clark Five,
Rufus Thomas,
Minny Pops,
Whodini,
Dark Day,
X-101,
Delon & Dalcan,
Depeche Mode,
Fear,
Heaven 17,
Ronan,
Suburban Knight,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Chrome,
OOIOO,
Mission of Burma,
Henry Cow,
The Move,
Zero Boys,
Shoche,
Cecil Taylor,
Camouflage,
The Misunderstood,
Funkadelic,
Bauhaus,
Buzzcocks,
Tim Buckley,
KRS-One,
Soul II Soul,
Main Source,
Pantytec,
Excepter,
Rekid,
Scan 7,
Rosa Yemen,
The Star Department,
Archie Shepp,
Bush Tetras,
Youth Brigade, Youth Brigade, Youth Brigade, Youth Brigade.
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.