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 Ghana and from Glasgow.
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 1960 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bremen and Taipei.
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 1968 at the first Can practice in a loft in Cologne.
I was working on the sitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Con Funk Shun to the rap kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Rites of Spring. All the underground hits.
All Iggy Pop tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Gregory Isaacs record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Jesper Dahlbäck record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Ash Ra Tempel,
Roxy Music,
Swell Maps,
Al Stewart,
Drive Like Jehu,
Section 25,
the Normal,
Pharoah Sanders,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Blake Baxter,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
The Skatalites,
the Germs,
Marmalade,
Unwound,
Altered Images,
The Moleskins,
Quantec,
Brand Nubian,
Gastr Del Sol,
The Gories,
Amazonics,
Patti Smith,
Adolescents,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Japan,
Youth Brigade,
Black Pus,
The Birthday Party,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Ice-T,
Dorothy Ashby,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Banda Bassotti,
Masters at Work,
Shuggie Otis,
Pierre Henry,
Swans,
Pantaleimon,
New Order,
Goldenarms,
Mark Hollis,
The Monks,
Pagans,
Dave Gahan,
Gang Green,
The Durutti Column,
The Blues Magoos,
Nation of Ulysses,
Talk Talk,
Bob Dylan,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Au Pairs,
Siglo XX,
Wire,
Subhumans,
Donny Hathaway,
The Seeds,
Minnie Riperton,
X-Ray Spex, X-Ray Spex, X-Ray Spex, X-Ray Spex.
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.