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 Barbados and from Stockholm.
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 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Sao Paulo and Mumbai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school New York 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 1976 at the first Soft Boys practice in a loft in Cambridge.
I was working on the 808 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 Jesper Dahlbäck to the electroclash 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 Bobbi Humphrey. All the underground hits.
All Banda Bassotti tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Aswad record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s 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 H. Thieme record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Detroit Cobras,
Ultra Naté,
Lucky Dragons,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
X-102,
Amon Düül,
Laurel Aitken,
Absolute Body Control,
Cameo,
PIL,
Joe Finger,
Bauhaus,
Nirvana,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Unwound,
KRS-One,
Lalo Schifrin,
Rotary Connection,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
The Move,
Camouflage,
H. Thieme,
Blossom Toes,
The Real Kids,
Bronski Beat,
Aural Exciters,
The Walker Brothers,
Spoonie Gee,
Thompson Twins,
Ultimate Spinach,
ABBA,
Slick Rick,
Throbbing Gristle,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Lower 48,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
The Martian,
Bill Near,
The Vogues,
The Grass Roots,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Terry Callier,
Jandek,
The Cramps,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Bluetip,
Matthew Halsall,
The Star Department,
Circle Jerks,
Monks,
Drexciya,
Arab on Radar,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Lou Christie,
Rufus Thomas,
The Alarm Clocks, The Alarm Clocks, The Alarm Clocks, The Alarm Clocks.
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.