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 Belize and from Lagos.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Josef K show in Edinburgh.
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 1962 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Columbus and Halifax.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Milan 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 chamberlin 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 Average White Band to the rap 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 Fugazi. All the underground hits.
All X-101 tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Be Bop Deluxe record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno 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 an oboe and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Mark Hollis 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?
Harmonia,
Skarface,
This Heat,
Barrington Levy,
Swans,
Agent Orange,
The Litter,
The Offenders,
Maurizio,
The Blues Magoos,
DJ Sneak,
Ohio Players,
Cheater Slicks,
Gang Green,
Joe Smooth,
Ultimate Spinach,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
The Durutti Column,
Magma,
Zapp,
Jeff Lynne,
Glenn Branca,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Amon Düül II,
Siglo XX,
The Trojans,
The Gun Club,
Quando Quango,
The Gap Band,
Kurtis Blow,
Terrestrial Tones,
The Gladiators,
The Young Rascals,
KRS-One,
Joe Finger,
The Flesh Eaters,
Lightning Bolt,
Tears for Fears,
Malaria!,
The Tremeloes,
Althea and Donna,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Silicon Teens,
Tomorrow,
Sound Behaviour,
The Invisible,
The Dave Clark Five,
Lebanon Hanover,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Donny Hathaway,
The Star Department,
Isaac Hayes,
Au Pairs,
The Misunderstood,
The Cowsills,
David Bowie,
Gichy Dan,
Cameo,
Bill Wells,
Bizarre Inc., Bizarre Inc., Bizarre Inc., Bizarre Inc..
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.