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 Ghana and from Toronto.
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 1964 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Woodstock and Houston.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Paris 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 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 Fatback Band to the rap kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 The Victims. All the underground hits.
All AZ tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Groovy Waters 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Smoke record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a linndrum.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Deakin,
Circle Jerks,
June Days,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Bronski Beat,
Rekid,
Con Funk Shun,
Fela Kuti,
Lower 48,
Excepter,
Stockholm Monsters,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
John Cale,
Rhythm & Sound,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Soft Cell,
The American Breed,
Bang On A Can,
Al Stewart,
Japan,
Organ,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Tommy Roe,
Erykah Badu,
The Detroit Cobras,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Easy Going,
Jacques Brel,
Lou Christie,
Interpol,
Eden Ahbez,
Stetsasonic,
Juan Atkins,
Thee Headcoats,
The Human League,
Ralphi Rosario,
Porter Ricks,
Bobby Sherman,
The Angels of Light,
Bauhaus,
Lakeside,
the Fania All-Stars,
The Buckinghams,
Ultravox,
Deepchord,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
The Slits,
Pet Shop Boys,
Kurtis Blow,
FM Einheit,
The Stooges,
Livin' Joy,
The Smoke,
Kevin Saunderson,
MDC,
Peter & Gordon,
Wings,
Agent Orange,
The Dave Clark Five,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
John Holt, John Holt, John Holt, John Holt.
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.