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 Cape Verde and from Mumbai.
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 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manila and Lille.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Toronto 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 1979 at the first Second Layer practice in a loft in South London.
I was working on the güiro sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Jerry's Kids to the crunk kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Morten Harket. All the underground hits.
All Lebanon Hanover tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Symarip record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Vainqueur record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
John Cale,
Barbara Tucker,
Rakim,
Inner City,
Lungfish,
Warsaw,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
John Coltrane,
Motorama,
The United States of America,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Gang Green,
Black Moon,
Young Marble Giants,
Ralphi Rosario,
Spoonie Gee,
Judy Mowatt,
The Dead C,
The Moody Blues,
The Busters,
Mr. Review,
Alton Ellis,
Delon & Dalcan,
The Gories,
Matthew Bourne,
Country Teasers,
Donald Byrd,
Ronan,
The Detroit Cobras,
Patti Smith,
Unwound,
Bobby Sherman,
Jacques Brel,
Fela Kuti,
John Lydon,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Public Enemy,
In Retrospect,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Depeche Mode,
Infiniti,
The Standells,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Yellowson,
Intrusion,
Section 25,
Parry Music,
The Electric Prunes,
Make Up,
Ultra Naté,
Sun City Girls,
Camberwell Now,
The Mojo Men,
Wolf Eyes,
Von Mondo,
Ultravox,
Traffic Nightmare,
Blancmange,
Tears for Fears,
The Count Five,
Drive Like Jehu,
The Remains,
Bill Near, Bill Near, Bill Near, Bill Near.
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.