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 Eritrea and from Edmonton.
But I was there.
I was there in 1978.
I was there at the first Visage show in 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 1966 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Johannesburg and Manila.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lyon 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 harpsichord sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Johnny Osbourne to the grime 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 Piero Umiliani. All the underground hits.
All The Cowsills tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Sun Ra record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash 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 mellotron and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Gabor Szabo record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Pierre Henry,
Wings,
Nick Fraelich,
Isaac Hayes,
Man Eating Sloth,
Parry Music,
Con Funk Shun,
the Association,
Wire,
Roxette,
Duran Duran,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Gabor Szabo,
Minny Pops,
Loose Ends,
EPMD,
cv313,
Stereo Dub,
The Tremeloes,
Brick,
LL Cool J,
Rotary Connection,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Dead Boys,
Audionom,
Suicide,
Joe Smooth,
The Searchers,
Young Marble Giants,
Franke,
Tim Buckley,
Bluetip,
Fluxion,
The Birthday Party,
The Skatalites,
Das Ding,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Tubeway Army,
The Music Machine,
Skarface,
Jeru the Damaja,
Gang of Four,
The Names,
DJ Style,
Prince Buster,
Whodini,
Henry Cow,
The Residents,
Ronnie Foster,
Scratch Acid,
The Dave Clark Five,
D'Angelo,
Big Daddy Kane,
Soul II Soul,
Cymande,
Scott Walker,
Andrew Hill,
Max Romeo,
Faraquet,
Oneida,
The Fire Engines,
Altered Images,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Slave, Slave, Slave, Slave.
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.