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 Turkmenistan and from Manchester.
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 1961 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Edmonton and Glasgow.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Portland 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 güiro sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Archie Shepp to the rap kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Mission of Burma. All the underground hits.
All Ponytail tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Joyce Sims record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Basic Channel record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
DJ Style,
Lee Hazlewood,
Television Personalities,
Arthur Verocai,
Pantaleimon,
The Modern Lovers,
Dawn Penn,
Hoover,
Quando Quango,
The Dead C,
Jimmy McGriff,
Von Mondo,
Altered Images,
Fad Gadget,
Can,
Siglo XX,
Yazoo,
Technova,
The Fugs,
Colin Newman,
Pole,
Rotary Connection,
The Cramps,
Lebanon Hanover,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
David Axelrod,
Youth Brigade,
Howard Jones,
La Düsseldorf,
Ultra Naté,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
The Blackbyrds,
Panda Bear,
cv313,
The Durutti Column,
The Selecter,
Eddi Front,
the Sonics,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Urselle,
The Trojans,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Sunsets and Hearts,
ABC,
Los Fastidios,
Judy Mowatt,
the Association,
Wire,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Kevin Saunderson,
Jerry's Kids,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Reuben Wilson,
Tres Demented,
Franke,
Alice Coltrane,
Sight & Sound,
Chrome,
Crash Course in Science,
Matthew Halsall,
Gang of Four,
Juan Atkins, Juan Atkins, Juan Atkins, Juan Atkins.
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.