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 Nepal and from Beijing.
But I was there.
I was there in 1968.
I was there at the first Can show in Cologne.
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 Paris and Sao Paulo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Seoul 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 1984 at the first Arcadia practice in a loft in London.
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 Moss Icon to the disco 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 Niagra. All the underground hits.
All Pere Ubu tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Stetsasonic 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The United States of America record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Sight & Sound,
Ultra Naté,
The Raincoats,
The Beau Brummels,
Marshall Jefferson,
Cameo,
Stiv Bators,
Quadrant,
Kaleidoscope,
The Busters,
Lindisfarne,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Spoonie Gee,
Jandek,
The Flesh Eaters,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Lightning Bolt,
Fort Wilson Riot,
The Golliwogs,
Crispian St. Peters,
Boogie Down Productions,
Black Sheep,
Susan Cadogan,
the Germs,
Henry Cow,
Drexciya,
David McCallum,
Joy Division,
Kool Moe Dee,
Nirvana,
The Cramps,
Davy DMX,
Rakim,
Slave,
Hashim,
Hoover,
Howard Jones,
JFA,
Tears for Fears,
The Smoke,
The Doobie Brothers,
Glambeats Corp.,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Be Bop Deluxe,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Judy Mowatt,
Sex Pistols,
La Düsseldorf,
Shoche,
Leonard Cohen,
Japan,
The Martian,
Reagan Youth,
Pantaleimon,
Nik Kershaw,
Oneida,
Can,
Model 500,
Sun Ra,
Moebius,
The Gories,
Man Parrish,
Pere Ubu, Pere Ubu, Pere Ubu, Pere Ubu.
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.