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 Mali and from Columbus.
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 1960 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tehran and New York.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Philadelphia 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 theremin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Monolake to the rap kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Zapp. All the underground hits.
All The Selecter tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Lucky Dragons record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Essential Logic record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Slave,
Swell Maps,
Drive Like Jehu,
Television,
Absolute Body Control,
Laurel Aitken,
Aswad,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Brick,
Half Japanese,
The Shadows of Knight,
DJ Sneak,
Derrick May,
Camberwell Now,
Archie Shepp,
Arthur Verocai,
Deadbeat,
Little Man,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Essential Logic,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
The Tremeloes,
Second Layer,
Joe Finger,
Todd Terry,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Lalann,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Liliput,
Letta Mbulu,
A Flock of Seagulls,
The Happenings,
Erykah Badu,
Piero Umiliani,
Arcadia,
The Birthday Party,
L. Decosne,
The Grass Roots,
Alison Limerick,
Bob Dylan,
Eyeless In Gaza,
The Offenders,
The Velvet Underground,
Eli Mardock,
Pantytec,
Yellowson,
Cheater Slicks,
Stiv Bators,
The Angels of Light,
Marvin Gaye,
Barclay James Harvest,
Camouflage,
Bootsy Collins,
The Gladiators,
Bauhaus,
Jesper Dahlback,
Crispy Ambulance,
The Smiths,
Ultravox,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
John Foxx, John Foxx, John Foxx, John Foxx.
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.