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 Algeria and from Glasgow.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Selda show in Istanbul.
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 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Stockholm and Philadelphia.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Glasgow 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 arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Schoolly D to the grime kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Joensuu 1685. All the underground hits.
All Absolute Body Control tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Dennis Brown record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s 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 Derrick Morgan record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Rapeman,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Sly & The Family Stone,
The Mummies,
The Red Krayola,
Yazoo,
Gang Starr,
Chris & Cosey,
Subhumans,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Yusef Lateef,
The Alarm Clocks,
The Dirtbombs,
John Foxx,
Robert Hood,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Kaleidoscope,
Audionom,
Skaos,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Bauhaus,
Juan Atkins,
Lower 48,
Marcia Griffiths,
Terry Callier,
the Bar-Kays,
Joensuu 1685,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Leonard Cohen,
T. Rex,
Das Ding,
Shuggie Otis,
Idris Muhammad,
Accadde A,
Fad Gadget,
Organ,
The Offenders,
LL Cool J,
Ornette Coleman,
T.S.O.L.,
Danielle Patucci,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Mark Hollis,
Wire,
Cymande,
Saccharine Trust,
The Litter,
The Mighty Diamonds,
The Smiths,
Matthew Bourne,
The Blues Magoos,
U.S. Maple,
Don Cherry,
Carl Craig,
Albert Ayler,
Kevin Saunderson,
Motorama,
Mission of Burma,
Laurel Aitken,
The Walker Brothers,
Sandy B,
Pantytec,
Scott Walker, Scott Walker, Scott Walker, Scott Walker.
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.