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 Niger and from Glasgow.
But I was there.
I was there in 1968.
I was there at the first Bowie show in Bromley.
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 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Johannesburg and Taipei.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Philadelphia 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 1968 at the first Can practice in a loft in Cologne.
I was working on the arpeggiator 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 Johnny Osbourne to the punk kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Gichy Dan. All the underground hits.
All Das Ding tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Donny Hathaway record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Lonnie Liston Smith record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Basic Channel,
Johnny Osbourne,
The Star Department,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Visage,
Byron Stingily,
Skaos,
Janne Schatter,
Tim Buckley,
Gastr Del Sol,
Eric Copeland,
Roy Ayers,
Scott Walker,
Girls At Our Best!,
Cameo,
Von Mondo,
The Detroit Cobras,
Jawbox,
Tommy Roe,
The Five Americans,
Bang On A Can,
Deepchord,
Buzzcocks,
La Düsseldorf,
Maleditus Sound,
Aaron Thompson,
ABBA,
Lucky Dragons,
Rosa Yemen,
The Standells,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Scratch Acid,
Boz Scaggs,
Arcadia,
The New Christs,
Lou Christie,
Altered Images,
Gang Green,
Negative Approach,
Alphaville,
Little Man,
Ten City,
Intrusion,
John Coltrane,
Sonny Sharrock,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Nils Olav,
Agent Orange,
Joey Negro,
Duran Duran,
The Slackers,
Black Pus,
The Alarm Clocks,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Blake Baxter,
Suburban Knight,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Kenny Larkin,
Excepter,
Brick,
Jacob Miller,
Bobby Byrd,
Ornette Coleman, Ornette Coleman, Ornette Coleman, Ornette Coleman.
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.