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 Manchester.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Human League show in Sheffield.
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 1964 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Columbus and Mumbai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Cairo 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 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 June Days to the funk kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Marvin Gaye. All the underground hits.
All The Walker Brothers tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Albert Ayler record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk 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 marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Lonnie Liston Smith record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Fort Wilson Riot,
Dennis Brown,
Sight & Sound,
The Birthday Party,
Eric B and Rakim,
Motorama,
Deakin,
Archie Shepp,
Funky Four + One,
The Fuzztones,
Porter Ricks,
Albert Ayler,
Masters at Work,
Tres Demented,
The Music Machine,
Max Romeo,
Derrick Morgan,
Brick,
The Move,
Banda Bassotti,
The Victims,
T.S.O.L.,
The American Breed,
Maleditus Sound,
The Selecter,
Urselle,
The Mojo Men,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Deepchord,
Barclay James Harvest,
Sällskapet,
Hashim,
Amon Düül,
Bang On A Can,
Nils Olav,
Essential Logic,
The Vogues,
Mission of Burma,
H. Thieme,
June of 44,
Liliput,
Crooked Eye,
Rekid,
Quadrant,
Bizarre Inc.,
The Angels of Light,
Barry Ungar,
Inner City,
Bobby Sherman,
Throbbing Gristle,
Scratch Acid,
Aaron Thompson,
Davy DMX,
Curtis Mayfield,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Junior Murvin,
Yaz,
Marmalade,
Sonic Youth,
Intrusion,
Soft Cell,
Anthony Braxton, Anthony Braxton, Anthony Braxton, Anthony Braxton.
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.