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 Philippines and from Hong Kong.
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 1967 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Beijing and Shanghai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Delhi 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 mellotron sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Andrew Hill to the punk 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 The Seeds. All the underground hits.
All Traffic Nightmare tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Harpers Bizarre record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Rites of Spring record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Gladiators,
Eric Dolphy,
Bob Dylan,
Bluetip,
Mandrill,
Blancmange,
Quantec,
Mo-Dettes,
Duran Duran,
Country Teasers,
The American Breed,
The Knickerbockers,
Angry Samoans,
Gil Scott Heron,
The Beau Brummels,
These Immortal Souls,
Metal Thangz,
Monks,
Infiniti,
The Trojans,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
The Five Americans,
Sam Rivers,
Johnny Osbourne,
Amazonics,
Kaleidoscope,
Blake Baxter,
Magazine,
Godley & Creme,
Q and Not U,
Max Romeo,
Letta Mbulu,
Erykah Badu,
Supertramp,
Jawbox,
Archie Shepp,
Tim Buckley,
Wings,
Cal Tjader,
Todd Rundgren,
Country Joe & The Fish,
The Mummies,
Erasure,
Chrome,
Warren Ellis,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Nirvana,
The J.B.'s,
Amon Düül II,
The Human League,
The Gun Club,
Peter & Gordon,
Sight & Sound,
the Human League,
ABC,
Ultravox,
Rakim,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Public Image Ltd.,
The Raincoats,
Eric B and Rakim,
Agent Orange, Agent Orange, Agent Orange, Agent Orange.
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.