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 Tajikistan and from Jakarta.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Josef K show in Edinburgh.
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 1969 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Portland and Tokyo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Beijing 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 1980 at the first Cybotron practice in a loft in Detroit.
I was working on the marimba 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 New York Dolls to the punk kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Skarface. All the underground hits.
All Freddie Wadling tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Bronski Beat record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Desert Stars record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Kool Moe Dee,
Tom Boy,
The Mojo Men,
Accadde A,
the Germs,
Agent Orange,
Organ,
Henry Cow,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Brass Construction,
Malaria!,
Idris Muhammad,
The Dave Clark Five,
Bad Manners,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Charles Mingus,
A Flock of Seagulls,
MC5,
Suburban Knight,
Soul II Soul,
EPMD,
Sparks,
Lou Reed,
The Kinks,
Sun Ra,
Mission of Burma,
Sixth Finger,
Porter Ricks,
Goldenarms,
The Techniques,
The Wake,
The Selecter,
Talk Talk,
Be Bop Deluxe,
The Pretty Things,
the Sonics,
Lebanon Hanover,
The Gap Band,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Gong,
Infiniti,
Moebius,
Michelle Simonal,
Fugazi,
Black Bananas,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Tubeway Army,
Pylon,
Tropical Tobacco,
The Gories,
Section 25,
Lindisfarne,
Jacques Brel,
Faust,
Eric B and Rakim,
The Cramps,
Lou Christie,
Visage,
The J.B.'s,
Barbara Tucker,
Cal Tjader, Cal Tjader, Cal Tjader, Cal Tjader.
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.