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 Burundi and from Taipei.
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 1968 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Halifax and Cairo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Philadelphia 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 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 Das Ding to the funk 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 Eric Dolphy. All the underground hits.
All The Gap Band tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Lower 48 record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge 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 sitar and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Nils Olav record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Lower 48,
Stetsasonic,
Stockholm Monsters,
Sandy B,
The Mojo Men,
Rapeman,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
ABC,
Moby Grape,
F. McDonald,
Marcia Griffiths,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
R.M.O.,
Soft Machine,
Niagra,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Tommy Roe,
Q65,
The Detroit Cobras,
Blossom Toes,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Second Layer,
Amazonics,
Donny Hathaway,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Clear Light,
The Human League,
Nik Kershaw,
Black Moon,
Yaz,
The Zeros,
Alice Coltrane,
Theoretical Girls,
Terrestrial Tones,
The Associates,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Mad Mike,
Skaos,
Jandek,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Quantec,
Von Mondo,
The Beau Brummels,
Wire,
Derrick May,
KRS-One,
Oblivians,
Judy Mowatt,
James White and The Blacks,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
LL Cool J,
Shoche,
David Bowie,
Scratch Acid,
Harry Pussy,
Sam Rivers,
Connie Case,
L. Decosne,
Vladislav Delay, Vladislav Delay, Vladislav Delay, Vladislav Delay.
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.