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 Peru and from Tehran.
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 1966 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Cairo and Cairo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Jakarta 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 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 Johnny Clarke to the disco 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 The Five Americans. All the underground hits.
All Animal Collective tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Barbara Tucker 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 '90s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Mo-Dettes record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Saccharine Trust,
Cheater Slicks,
Tom Boy,
Gil Scott Heron,
Eric B and Rakim,
The Index,
Whodini,
Dawn Penn,
Soft Machine,
The Busters,
Brothers Johnson,
Aswad,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Electric Prunes,
Graham Central Station,
Sister Nancy,
Mo-Dettes,
Von Mondo,
Nick Fraelich,
Lou Reed,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Archie Shepp,
The Moleskins,
Half Japanese,
Camberwell Now,
Terry Callier,
8 Eyed Spy,
Symarip,
Buzzcocks,
The Star Department,
Harpers Bizarre,
Kerrie Biddell,
The Seeds,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
David McCallum,
Wolf Eyes,
Urselle,
Popol Vuh,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Sandy B,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Eden Ahbez,
Mr. Review,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Rekid,
T.S.O.L.,
The Cure,
Flash Fearless,
Donny Hathaway,
The Blues Magoos,
The Techniques,
Lindisfarne,
Marvin Gaye,
In Retrospect,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Skriet,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
The Divine Comedy,
Franke, Franke, Franke, Franke.
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.