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 Syria and from Hong Kong.
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 1960 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Sao Paulo and Johannesburg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school New York 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 arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Stereo Dub to the funk kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Lonnie Liston Smith. All the underground hits.
All Royal Trux tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Fatback Band 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 an organ and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Toasters record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Robert Wyatt,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Mark Hollis,
Scion,
The Smiths,
Joensuu 1685,
Juan Atkins,
Mo-Dettes,
AZ,
The Gun Club,
Radiohead,
Niagra,
Matthew Halsall,
Chris & Cosey,
Rod Modell,
The Pretty Things,
Curtis Mayfield,
The Mojo Men,
Jeff Mills,
Piero Umiliani,
Average White Band,
X-101,
Ultra Naté,
Eddi Front,
Guru Guru,
China Crisis,
Erykah Badu,
Wolf Eyes,
Von Mondo,
Lou Christie,
Lou Reed,
Big Daddy Kane,
48th St. Collective,
Procol Harum,
UT,
The Remains,
Visage,
Vladislav Delay,
Spoonie Gee,
Circle Jerks,
Tears for Fears,
Second Layer,
Bush Tetras,
Ohio Players,
The Human League,
Bob Dylan,
Rotary Connection,
Man Eating Sloth,
Lebanon Hanover,
Alison Limerick,
John Lydon,
Reuben Wilson,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
James Chance & The Contortions,
The Names,
The Associates,
Donald Byrd,
Faust,
Sällskapet,
John Holt,
Soft Cell, Soft Cell, Soft Cell, Soft Cell.
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.