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 Thailand and from Delhi.
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 1960 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bologna and Johannesburg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 rhodes sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Scientists to the dance kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Joe Smooth. All the underground hits.
All The Mighty Diamonds tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Inner City 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 '80s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Vladislav Delay record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a spring reverb.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
the Germs,
The Searchers,
These Immortal Souls,
Sällskapet,
John Coltrane,
Patti Smith,
Gong,
The Martian,
Judy Mowatt,
Camron Feat. Jay Z And Juelz,
Lindisfarne,
Negative Approach,
Jacob Miller,
The Flesh Eaters,
Tubeway Army,
The Offenders,
Radio Birdman,
AZ,
Barclay James Harvest,
D'Angelo,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Pagans,
The Monochrome Set,
Urselle,
EPMD,
Big Daddy Kane,
Stereo Dub,
Y Pants,
Robert Wyatt,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Sound Behaviour,
ABC,
Ultimate Spinach,
The Doors,
David Axelrod,
Index,
Television,
The Skatalites,
Soul II Soul,
Juan Atkins,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
F. McDonald,
Junior Murvin,
Sight & Sound,
Alison Limerick,
Neu!,
the Slits,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Roy Ayers,
Depeche Mode,
Roger Hodgson,
Television Personalities,
Audionom,
Animal Collective,
Robert Görl,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Stetsasonic,
The Monks, The Monks, The Monks, The Monks.
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.