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 Canada and from Cairo.
But I was there.
I was there in 1983.
I was there at the first Bronski Beat show in Brixton.
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 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Taipei and Lagos.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 chamberlin sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Depeche Mode to the dance 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 A Certain Ratio. All the underground hits.
All Ralphi Rosario tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Sun Ra record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk 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 clarinet and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Camberwell Now record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Anthony Braxton,
The Monochrome Set,
The Names,
Royal Trux,
Nils Olav,
Trumans Water,
The Standells,
Alice Coltrane,
Black Flag,
John Coltrane,
Steve Hackett,
Erasure,
Kerri Chandler,
Hot Snakes,
Bush Tetras,
X-Ray Spex,
The Black Dice,
Albert Ayler,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Colin Newman,
Skarface,
Rod Modell,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Ice-T,
Man Eating Sloth,
Kaleidoscope,
Deakin,
Flipper,
The Happenings,
The Knickerbockers,
Soft Cell,
The Fuzztones,
Cheater Slicks,
Moby Grape,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Grauzone,
The Smiths,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
John Foxx,
A Certain Ratio,
Silicon Teens,
Visage,
Soul Sonic Force,
Livin' Joy,
The Associates,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Basic Channel,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Idris Muhammad,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Scan 7,
Harpers Bizarre,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Loose Ends,
Amon Düül II,
The Kinks,
Fat Boys,
Marcia Griffiths,
Marine Girls,
Dave Gahan, Dave Gahan, Dave Gahan, Dave Gahan.
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.