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 Mali and from Calgary.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Chic show in New York.
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 1966 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Hong Kong and Accra.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Beijing 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 clarinet 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 Curtis Mayfield to the punk 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 Johnny Clarke. All the underground hits.
All The Skatalites tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Peter and Kerry record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a mellotron and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Ludus record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Pierre Henry,
Moebius,
Stockholm Monsters,
Andrew Hill,
The Red Krayola,
The Saints,
Janne Schatter,
Desert Stars,
La Düsseldorf,
Toni Rubio,
Public Image Ltd.,
Funky Four + One,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Boogie Down Productions,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Michelle Simonal,
Ronnie Foster,
Lower 48,
Rapeman,
Ludus,
The Golliwogs,
Hardrive,
Hoover,
Lou Christie,
Tom Boy,
Patti Smith,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Quantec,
Camouflage,
D'Angelo,
Robert Wyatt,
Kevin Saunderson,
The Litter,
Sixth Finger,
Kurtis Blow,
Carl Craig,
Gastr Del Sol,
Maleditus Sound,
The Pretty Things,
China Crisis,
Deepchord,
Mo-Dettes,
10cc,
Dorothy Ashby,
The Cowsills,
Joe Smooth,
The Slackers,
Grauzone,
Hashim,
Erasure,
Magazine,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Youth Brigade,
Panda Bear,
Cal Tjader,
Bush Tetras,
Gong,
The Index,
Q and Not U,
Saccharine Trust,
Morten Harket,
The Remains, The Remains, The Remains, The Remains.
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.