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 Mali and from Spokane.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Soft Boys show in Cambridge.
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 1969 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Cairo and Portland.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Stockholm 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 1968 at the first Can practice in a loft in Cologne.
I was working on the linndrum sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Slits to the electroclash 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 Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark. All the underground hits.
All Sparks tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Ornette Coleman 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a New Age Steppers record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Martian,
The Gap Band,
A Certain Ratio,
Theoretical Girls,
Marcia Griffiths,
Buzzcocks,
Adolescents,
Cecil Taylor,
Lightning Bolt,
Television,
Eli Mardock,
Das Ding,
Pantaleimon,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
The Human League,
Youth Brigade,
Eden Ahbez,
Rufus Thomas,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Shuggie Otis,
Colin Newman,
Arthur Verocai,
Rosa Yemen,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Rod Modell,
New York Dolls,
E-Dancer,
Donald Byrd,
The Remains,
Livin' Joy,
Magma,
Nik Kershaw,
Gastr Del Sol,
Mission of Burma,
Tom Boy,
The Angels of Light,
James Chance & The Contortions,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
DJ Style,
Kerrie Biddell,
Wire,
The Neon Judgement,
T. Rex,
Main Source,
Arcadia,
The Detroit Cobras,
Yaz,
the Fania All-Stars,
MDC,
Max Romeo,
Delta 5,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Liliput,
Marshall Jefferson,
Erykah Badu,
Charles Mingus,
Sonny Sharrock,
Dead Boys,
Tomorrow,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Agitation Free,
Angry Samoans, Angry Samoans, Angry Samoans, Angry Samoans.
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.