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 Turkmenistan and from Jakarta.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Human League show in Sheffield.
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 1961 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tehran and Mumbai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Winnipeg 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 808 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 The Star Department to the electroclash kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Eric Dolphy. All the underground hits.
All Josef K tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Ronnie Foster record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Tomorrow record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Monochrome Set,
The Modern Lovers,
Buzzcocks,
the Swans,
Mantronix,
Vladislav Delay,
The Associates,
10cc,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Derrick May,
These Immortal Souls,
Zero Boys,
Alison Limerick,
World's Most,
Pole,
The Red Krayola,
Agitation Free,
Depeche Mode,
Smog,
Amon Düül II,
The Cure,
Nick Fraelich,
Throbbing Gristle,
F. McDonald,
The Dave Clark Five,
John Lydon,
Sun Ra,
Tropical Tobacco,
Organ,
Television Personalities,
Lee Hazlewood,
JFA,
Fugazi,
Bobby Hutcherson,
David Axelrod,
Bluetip,
Pierre Henry,
The Moody Blues,
Parry Music,
Todd Rundgren,
Dead Boys,
Jandek,
Jeff Mills,
Cymande,
Tubeway Army,
Ultimate Spinach,
Stetsasonic,
Jeff Lynne,
Hot Snakes,
Crispy Ambulance,
Wings,
Yusef Lateef,
KRS-One,
Stiv Bators,
Lungfish,
Scrapy,
Barry Ungar,
Steve Hackett,
Whodini,
Sound Behaviour,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
June Days, June Days, June Days, June Days.
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.