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 Seychelles and from Madrid.
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 1960 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Madrid and Beijing.
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 1967 at the first Rodriguez practice in a loft in Detroit.
I was working on the sitar 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 Dennis Brown to the grunge 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 Colin Newman. All the underground hits.
All Archie Shepp tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Desert Stars 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 '90s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Sparks record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a spring reverb.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
This Heat,
Marc Almond,
the Soft Cell,
Duran Duran,
The Cowsills,
Grandmaster Flash,
Scion,
Rakim,
Lightning Bolt,
Wire,
Letta Mbulu,
Pere Ubu,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Terrestrial Tones,
Dave Gahan,
Jacques Brel,
Sun Ra,
Pantaleimon,
Peter and Kerry,
Reagan Youth,
The Grass Roots,
Underground Resistance,
John Foxx,
Gichy Dan,
Bush Tetras,
Sun City Girls,
Model 500,
Juan Atkins,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Delon & Dalcan,
Hot Snakes,
The Leaves,
Joy Division,
Howard Jones,
Terry Callier,
Urselle,
The Dirtbombs,
Bobby Byrd,
Wings,
Public Enemy,
The Gories,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Mantronix,
Mr. Review,
Cecil Taylor,
the Association,
Jeff Lynne,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Monks,
The Dead C,
Boogie Down Productions,
Kenny Larkin,
Fat Boys,
Max Romeo,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Slave,
Supertramp,
Fugazi,
Vladislav Delay,
Chrome,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Joe Finger,
Shuggie Otis, Shuggie Otis, Shuggie Otis, Shuggie Otis.
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.