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 Kazakhstan and from Portland.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Josef K show in Edinburgh.
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 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Shanghai and Johannesburg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Copenhagen 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 guitar 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 Index to the dance 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 The Misunderstood. All the underground hits.
All The Beau Brummels tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Main Source record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a James Chance & The Contortions record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Jeru the Damaja,
Can,
The Neon Judgement,
K-Klass,
The New Christs,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Adolescents,
Subhumans,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Nik Kershaw,
David McCallum,
Echospace,
Dual Sessions,
These Immortal Souls,
Eric Dolphy,
Sugar Minott,
Urselle,
Zero Boys,
The Star Department,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Chris & Cosey,
Johnny Clarke,
Lower 48,
Bob Dylan,
The Index,
Minny Pops,
Rod Modell,
Mo-Dettes,
Man Parrish,
A Certain Ratio,
Second Layer,
AZ,
The Cure,
Juan Atkins,
Deadbeat,
Public Enemy,
Big Daddy Kane,
Moss Icon,
Buzzcocks,
The Selecter,
Cluster,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Scratch Acid,
Leonard Cohen,
Livin' Joy,
Wally Richardson,
The Gladiators,
Marshall Jefferson,
Tubeway Army,
Ossler,
Silicon Teens,
Loose Ends,
The Birthday Party,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
The Music Machine,
The Golliwogs,
Prince Buster,
the Fania All-Stars,
Vainqueur,
Half Japanese,
Alice Coltrane,
Beasts of Bourbon,
The Shadows of Knight, The Shadows of Knight, The Shadows of Knight, The Shadows of Knight.
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.