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 Morocco and from Lagos.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Mistral show in Amsterdam.
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 1960 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manchester and Accra.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 808 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 Patti Smith to the crunk kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Tropical Tobacco. All the underground hits.
All Derrick Morgan tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Soul II Soul 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an organ and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Swell Maps record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Cluster,
Swans,
The Evens,
The Count Five,
Darondo,
Aloha Tigers,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
The Flesh Eaters,
Black Moon,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Kayak,
Roy Ayers,
The Golliwogs,
Mission of Burma,
Urselle,
The Real Kids,
The Angels of Light,
K-Klass,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Curtis Mayfield,
Howard Jones,
Sound Behaviour,
John Lydon,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
LL Cool J,
T. Rex,
Bush Tetras,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Eli Mardock,
Graham Central Station,
H. Thieme,
The Happenings,
Joe Smooth,
La Düsseldorf,
Wings,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
The Fugs,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Jacob Miller,
David Bowie,
Sugar Minott,
Connie Case,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Nik Kershaw,
One Last Wish,
Fat Boys,
Black Bananas,
The Leaves,
New Order,
Dennis Brown,
T.S.O.L.,
Ituana,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Grandmaster Flash,
June Days,
Rosa Yemen,
Neil Young,
Patti Smith,
Derrick May,
Bill Near,
Delta 5,
U.S. Maple,
Rhythm & Sound,
the Normal, the Normal, the Normal, the Normal.
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.