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 Brunei and from New York.
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 1964 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bologna and Manchester.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Madrid 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 mellotron 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 Patti Smith to the disco kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Joe Smooth. All the underground hits.
All Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every One Last Wish 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Eric Copeland record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Slick Rick,
Urselle,
OOIOO,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Neu!,
The Young Rascals,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
The Grass Roots,
Donny Hathaway,
The Black Dice,
Section 25,
Dave Gahan,
Tim Buckley,
The Leaves,
The Toasters,
Motorama,
Electric Prunes,
Pierre Henry,
Ohio Players,
Half Japanese,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Roy Ayers,
Jawbox,
Can,
Connie Case,
The Last Poets,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Delon & Dalcan,
Maurizio,
E-Dancer,
Boogie Down Productions,
MC5,
Theoretical Girls,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Aswad,
The Red Krayola,
Yazoo,
Ultra Naté,
Das Ding,
Marmalade,
The Smoke,
Shoche,
Deepchord,
MDC,
Flash Fearless,
Surgeon,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Lucky Dragons,
Bang On A Can,
Ultimate Spinach,
The Saints,
AZ,
Johnny Clarke,
Archie Shepp,
Donald Byrd,
The Associates,
Eli Mardock,
K-Klass,
Lalo Schifrin,
EPMD,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
cv313, cv313, cv313, cv313.
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.