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 Kosovo and from Sao Paulo.
But I was there.
I was there in 1983.
I was there at the first Bronski Beat show in Brixton.
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 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Taipei and Accra.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Spokane 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 Michael McDonald 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 Heaven 17 to the rock 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 L. Decosne. All the underground hits.
All Black Flag tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Lou Reed & John Cale record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a 808 and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Ash Ra Tempel record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Roxette,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Althea and Donna,
Boogie Down Productions,
Soul II Soul,
Lakeside,
Gang Starr,
Schoolly D,
Sparks,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
the Germs,
Warsaw,
Essential Logic,
Alison Limerick,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Moby Grape,
Jacques Brel,
Porter Ricks,
Arthur Verocai,
Stockholm Monsters,
Desert Stars,
Eden Ahbez,
Dark Day,
Oneida,
Curtis Mayfield,
LL Cool J,
Surgeon,
Sugar Minott,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Slave,
Mo-Dettes,
Boz Scaggs,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
The Evens,
Goldenarms,
Subhumans,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Radio Birdman,
Symarip,
Kool Moe Dee,
Bobby Sherman,
Magazine,
The Angels of Light,
Ice-T,
Charles Mingus,
The Human League,
The Slits,
Swans,
the Sonics,
Marshall Jefferson,
The Blues Magoos,
Leonard Cohen,
Pierre Henry,
Dennis Brown,
Blancmange,
the Human League,
EPMD,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Little Man,
Procol Harum,
Electric Prunes,
Darondo, Darondo, Darondo, Darondo.
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.