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 Burundi and from New York.
But I was there.
I was there in 1980.
I was there at the first Cybotron show in Detroit.
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 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Columbus and Bologna.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Milan 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 1977 at the first Human League practice in a loft in Sheffield.
I was working on the chamberlin 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 Lou Reed & John Cale to the funk 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 Davy DMX. All the underground hits.
All AZ tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Doors record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a 808 and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Monks record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Bluetip,
Gang Gang Dance,
Dual Sessions,
The Grass Roots,
Nick Fraelich,
Hashim,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Wasted Youth,
Popol Vuh,
Prince Buster,
Dawn Penn,
Gang of Four,
Aloha Tigers,
Avey Tare,
Neu!,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Josef K,
Groovy Waters,
Harry Pussy,
Sandy B,
Stockholm Monsters,
Vladislav Delay,
Agitation Free,
Rakim,
Public Image Ltd.,
Gang Green,
Marcia Griffiths,
Ultra Naté,
X-101,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Lebanon Hanover,
Yazoo,
Pole,
The Monks,
Drive Like Jehu,
Glenn Branca,
48th St. Collective,
Black Sheep,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Boogie Down Productions,
The Fugs,
EPMD,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Youth Brigade,
Jandek,
Ronnie Foster,
E-Dancer,
Kayak,
Gregory Isaacs,
The Slackers,
The Knickerbockers,
Warren Ellis,
Electric Prunes,
Sun Ra,
The Human League,
Juan Atkins,
Rosa Yemen,
In Retrospect,
Von Mondo,
Quantec,
Archie Shepp,
Amon Düül, Amon Düül, Amon Düül, Amon Düül.
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.