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 Kosovo and from Toronto.
But I was there.
I was there in 1970.
I was there at the first Onyeabor show in Enugu.
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 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manchester and Mumbai.
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 spring reverb 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 The Golliwogs to the techno 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 The Evens. All the underground hits.
All Stereo Dub tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Amon Düül 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 '70s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Doobie Brothers record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Gong,
Derrick Morgan,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Dual Sessions,
Maurizio,
Popol Vuh,
Crooked Eye,
Flash Fearless,
Nils Olav,
John Holt,
The Invisible,
Marshall Jefferson,
E-Dancer,
China Crisis,
Circle Jerks,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
the Sonics,
Minutemen,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
OOIOO,
Ossler,
The Doobie Brothers,
The Monochrome Set,
Crispy Ambulance,
Excepter,
The Fuzztones,
Television,
Ice-T,
Monks,
Nik Kershaw,
the Slits,
Gichy Dan,
8 Eyed Spy,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Joensuu 1685,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Kool Moe Dee,
Shuggie Otis,
David Bowie,
Peter and Kerry,
Albert Ayler,
Rhythm & Sound,
Darondo,
The Standells,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Altered Images,
Ponytail,
Soul II Soul,
Cluster,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Soul Sonic Force,
Boz Scaggs,
Goldenarms,
Pantytec,
Sparks,
Nas,
Public Enemy,
Boogie Down Productions,
Bauhaus,
Dennis Brown, Dennis Brown, Dennis Brown, Dennis Brown.
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.