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 South Sudan and from Philadelphia.
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 1968 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manila and Paris.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Tokyo 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 güiro sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Accadde A to the crunk kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Harmonia. All the underground hits.
All The Sisters of Mercy tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Barclay James Harvest record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Y Pants,
Johnny Osbourne,
New Age Steppers,
The Leaves,
Magazine,
Ultra Naté,
Bang On A Can,
John Holt,
James White and The Blacks,
The Move,
Vladislav Delay,
Arcadia,
EPMD,
Warren Ellis,
Gong,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Sonny Sharrock,
Letta Mbulu,
48th St. Collective,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Infiniti,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Mo-Dettes,
10cc,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Popol Vuh,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Donald Byrd,
Unrelated Segments,
JFA,
The Remains,
The Velvet Underground,
Todd Terry,
Isaac Hayes,
Brand Nubian,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Max Romeo,
Radiohead,
The Saints,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Au Pairs,
Ludus,
The Mojo Men,
Television Personalities,
Eric Copeland,
Barclay James Harvest,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Connie Case,
Simply Red,
Fugazi,
the Germs,
Deadbeat,
The Stooges,
Erasure,
The Skatalites,
David McCallum,
Roger Hodgson,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Masters at Work,
Patti Smith,
The Last Poets,
Mars, Mars, Mars, Mars.
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.