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 New Zealand and from Tehran.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Second Layer show in South London.
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 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Shanghai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Mumbai 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 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 Negative Approach to the punk kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Vainqueur. All the underground hits.
All Bang On A Can tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Warren Ellis record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying an organ and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Radio Birdman record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Evens,
a-ha,
Excepter,
UT,
8 Eyed Spy,
Moss Icon,
Quantec,
Aloha Tigers,
Rufus Thomas,
PIL,
It's A Beautiful Day,
David Bowie,
Arab on Radar,
Boz Scaggs,
Young Marble Giants,
The Detroit Cobras,
Outsiders,
X-102,
Hashim,
Aural Exciters,
Con Funk Shun,
Smog,
Bob Dylan,
the Association,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
The Modern Lovers,
Procol Harum,
Amon Düül,
The Stooges,
The Grass Roots,
DNA,
Roxette,
The Mummies,
Bad Manners,
Pierre Henry,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Isaac Hayes,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Kenny Larkin,
Johnny Clarke,
Charles Mingus,
X-Ray Spex,
The Selecter,
H. Thieme,
The Flesh Eaters,
Masters at Work,
MC5,
Visage,
New York Dolls,
Marmalade,
Moebius,
The Angels of Light,
Erykah Badu,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
The Monks,
Sight & Sound,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Roger Hodgson,
Marvin Gaye,
Deadbeat,
Barrington Levy,
Magma,
Mark Hollis, Mark Hollis, Mark Hollis, Mark Hollis.
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.