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 Russia and from Manchester.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Neu! show in Düsseldorf.
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 1961 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bremen and Madrid.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Toronto 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 1984 at the first Arcadia practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the güiro sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Mars to the dance kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Aural Exciters. All the underground hits.
All Rufus Thomas tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Yusef Lateef record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a A Certain Ratio record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Magma,
Sun Ra,
Dorothy Ashby,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Jeff Lynne,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Chris Corsano,
Rosa Yemen,
Kenny Larkin,
Darondo,
Joey Negro,
Grandmaster Flash,
Tommy Roe,
Big Daddy Kane,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Cheater Slicks,
Rapeman,
Shuggie Otis,
The Zeros,
The Black Dice,
Josef K,
Pierre Henry,
Gong,
Nik Kershaw,
Mad Mike,
Davy DMX,
The Pretty Things,
48th St. Collective,
Youth Brigade,
Underground Resistance,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Moby Grape,
Susan Cadogan,
Todd Rundgren,
Kool Moe Dee,
Donny Hathaway,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Subhumans,
Carl Craig,
Yellowson,
Sex Pistols,
Skarface,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Gastr Del Sol,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Black Flag,
Throbbing Gristle,
Connie Case,
Flamin' Groovies,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Jacob Miller,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Masters at Work,
Mars,
The Fall,
Deakin,
Sexual Harrassment,
Pagans,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Brothers Johnson,
Swell Maps,
The Litter, The Litter, The Litter, The Litter.
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.