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 Antigua and from Manila.
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 1967 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Columbus and Portland.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Glasgow 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 spring reverb 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 R.M.O. to the rap kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Sam Rivers. All the underground hits.
All the Human League tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Isaac Hayes 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 '70s.
I hear you're buying a snare and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Detroit Cobras record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Boogie Down Productions,
Donny Hathaway,
Tubeway Army,
Monks,
The Gap Band,
Agitation Free,
Fad Gadget,
New York Dolls,
Bobby Byrd,
Vainqueur,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
The Star Department,
Amon Düül II,
The Electric Prunes,
Nirvana,
Blancmange,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Magma,
Franke,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
the Bar-Kays,
The Sound,
Marshall Jefferson,
T. Rex,
Minor Threat,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Rod Modell,
The Young Rascals,
Dawn Penn,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Babytalk,
Make Up,
Josef K,
Simply Red,
Nico,
Matthew Bourne,
Intrusion,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Pagans,
Excepter,
Ralphi Rosario,
The Beau Brummels,
Sun City Girls,
Crooked Eye,
The Knickerbockers,
Fear,
The Stooges,
Lalann,
Ludus,
Dennis Brown,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Crispian St. Peters,
Jerry's Kids,
The Vogues,
Eyeless In Gaza,
The American Breed,
Archie Shepp,
Cecil Taylor,
The Monks,
Sight & Sound,
Black Bananas,
Harry Pussy,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Neu!, Neu!, Neu!, Neu!.
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.