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 Ukraine and from Johannesburg.
But I was there.
I was there in 1970.
I was there at the first Onyeabor show in Enugu.
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 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Glasgow and Manila.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Shanghai 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 Robert Palmer 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 Stockholm Monsters to the electroclash 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 Cheater Slicks. All the underground hits.
All Half Japanese tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Hot Snakes record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a mellotron and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Mad Mike record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Average White Band,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Jeru the Damaja,
Reagan Youth,
Idris Muhammad,
Scott Walker,
The Velvet Underground,
Pet Shop Boys,
John Coltrane,
Warren Ellis,
Von Mondo,
the Swans,
The Cure,
The Leaves,
Urselle,
Letta Mbulu,
Little Man,
Ken Boothe,
The Motions,
Rufus Thomas,
The Zeros,
Neil Young,
Underground Resistance,
cv313,
Marmalade,
Aaron Thompson,
Siglo XX,
the Association,
The Pop Group,
Trumans Water,
The Detroit Cobras,
Stiv Bators,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Nation of Ulysses,
Slave,
Pussy Galore,
Flipper,
The Fall,
Pulsallama,
Kayak,
Gang Starr,
Babytalk,
Oblivians,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Dawn Penn,
Jacob Miller,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Public Enemy,
Derrick May,
Nico,
Altered Images,
World's Most,
The Gap Band,
Cal Tjader,
Banda Bassotti,
Bang On A Can,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
the Sonics,
Arab on Radar,
The Last Poets,
Black Sheep,
The Gun Club, The Gun Club, The Gun Club, The Gun Club.
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.