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 Guinea-Bissau and from Mexico City.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Second Layer show in South London.
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 1963 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in New York and Jakarta.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Tokyo 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 808 sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Wally Richardson to the funk kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Surgeon. All the underground hits.
All ABC tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Thee Headcoats 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Warren Ellis 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?
Soul Sonic Force,
Smog,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Wolf Eyes,
Barrington Levy,
Kerrie Biddell,
Soul II Soul,
CMW,
X-102,
Massinfluence,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Yaz,
Television,
The Wake,
Blake Baxter,
Vladislav Delay,
Jeru the Damaja,
The Blues Magoos,
Black Moon,
MC5,
Cluster,
T. Rex,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Todd Rundgren,
Section 25,
Main Source,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Eurythmics,
Outsiders,
Silicon Teens,
Echospace,
The Busters,
Jawbox,
Roxy Music,
Prince Buster,
Grandmaster Flash,
Eve St. Jones,
Henry Cow,
Swans,
Dark Day,
The Gap Band,
Jimmy McGriff,
Robert Görl,
Scratch Acid,
Ice-T,
Khruangbin,
Surgeon,
These Immortal Souls,
LL Cool J,
The Pretty Things,
Archie Shepp,
The Vogues,
Judy Mowatt,
Lightning Bolt,
Newcleus,
Morten Harket,
Charles Mingus,
Donald Byrd,
Marmalade,
the Germs,
Pantaleimon,
the Association, the Association, the Association, the Association.
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.