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 Haiti and from Tehran.
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 1966 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Toronto and Stockholm.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Johannesburg 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 Robert Palmer 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 Wasted Youth to the dance kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Justin Hinds & The Dominoes. All the underground hits.
All Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Flesh Eaters 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a rhodes and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Bobby Hutcherson 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?
The Pretty Things,
Cecil Taylor,
Matthew Halsall,
Nirvana,
Donny Hathaway,
PIL,
Animal Collective,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Livin' Joy,
Electric Prunes,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Little Man,
Curtis Mayfield,
Eurythmics,
Crooked Eye,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
LL Cool J,
Pet Shop Boys,
The Angels of Light,
Sugar Minott,
Japan,
The Residents,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
the Bar-Kays,
Icehouse,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Brass Construction,
The Red Krayola,
Marine Girls,
Tommy Roe,
Sonic Youth,
James White and The Blacks,
Skaos,
Mad Mike,
Whodini,
Ornette Coleman,
the Fania All-Stars,
Reuben Wilson,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
The Tremeloes,
Young Marble Giants,
Sandy B,
The Martian,
Amon Düül,
8 Eyed Spy,
Scott Walker,
Albert Ayler,
Agitation Free,
The Leaves,
China Crisis,
Bobby Womack,
Circle Jerks,
Crispy Ambulance,
Jeff Lynne,
Lakeside,
Sarah Menescal,
Robert Görl,
Piero Umiliani, Piero Umiliani, Piero Umiliani, Piero Umiliani.
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.