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 Ethiopia and from Beijing.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Chic show in New York.
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 1965 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Houston and Edmonton.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Mexico City 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 spring reverb 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 The Grass Roots to the dance kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Mad Mike. All the underground hits.
All The Smiths tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Ajijia Myrayebe 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Slits record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Spandau Ballet,
The Invisible,
Albert Ayler,
This Heat,
The Cramps,
AZ,
the Germs,
The Names,
Blossom Toes,
Y Pants,
Eric B and Rakim,
Massinfluence,
Aaron Thompson,
Circle Jerks,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Yellowson,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Idris Muhammad,
Ice-T,
Jeru the Damaja,
Skarface,
Lebanon Hanover,
The Modern Lovers,
The Slits,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Groovy Waters,
Boz Scaggs,
Pere Ubu,
Sarah Menescal,
Supertramp,
The Seeds,
Robert Görl,
the Sonics,
Gil Scott Heron,
The Fall,
Adolescents,
Roger Hodgson,
The Real Kids,
Kerrie Biddell,
Charles Mingus,
Mantronix,
The Smiths,
Tubeway Army,
Goldenarms,
Johnny Clarke,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Terry Callier,
The Five Americans,
Isaac Hayes,
The Human League,
Minnie Riperton,
Jerry's Kids,
Donny Hathaway,
Anthony Braxton,
The Leaves,
Kurtis Blow,
The Techniques,
The Cowsills,
the Soft Cell,
Banda Bassotti,
Bauhaus, Bauhaus, Bauhaus, Bauhaus.
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.