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 Congo and from Jakarta.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Neu! show in Düsseldorf.
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 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Philadelphia and Johannesburg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manila 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 1983 at the first Bronski Beat practice in a loft in Brixton.
I was working on the clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Camberwell Now to the rock kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Motions. All the underground hits.
All Crooked Eye tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Justin Hinds & The Dominoes 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Bobby Byrd record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Eric B and Rakim,
Anakelly,
Pharoah Sanders,
Neu!,
Mo-Dettes,
Ludus,
Pantytec,
Depeche Mode,
Minnie Riperton,
Index,
Byron Stingily,
Electric Prunes,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Spandau Ballet,
Hasil Adkins,
Chrome,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Jeff Mills,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Wasted Youth,
Nils Olav,
The Sonics,
Slave,
The Fugs,
kango's stein massive,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Rakim,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Prince Buster,
Aswad,
Masters at Work,
Adolescents,
Cabaret Voltaire,
The Litter,
The Human League,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Sound Behaviour,
Angry Samoans,
Underground Resistance,
The Moody Blues,
Bob Dylan,
Radio Birdman,
The Trojans,
Crash Course in Science,
Unwound,
Marine Girls,
Country Teasers,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Fela Kuti,
Howard Jones,
Rhythm & Sound,
Pole,
U.S. Maple,
Absolute Body Control,
Gichy Dan,
Minny Pops,
Liliput,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Sam Rivers,
The Velvet Underground,
the Swans,
Eve St. Jones,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
UT, UT, UT, UT.
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.