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 Senegal and from Johannesburg.
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 1968 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Glasgow and Jakarta.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manchester 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 arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Ash Ra Tempel to the dance kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 John Cale. All the underground hits.
All Davy DMX tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Malaria! 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 '70s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Bad Manners record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
Stockholm Monsters,
Jacob Miller,
Robert Görl,
The Walker Brothers,
Jandek,
Cal Tjader,
Lightning Bolt,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
The Mummies,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Motorama,
Fluxion,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Television,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Radio Birdman,
Cybotron,
Alison Limerick,
Ultra Naté,
Yaz,
Aloha Tigers,
Boogie Down Productions,
Tears for Fears,
Das Ding,
Letta Mbulu,
Todd Rundgren,
Jeff Lynne,
Scrapy,
Terrestrial Tones,
The Moleskins,
Symarip,
Loose Ends,
Boredoms,
Jesper Dahlback,
Connie Case,
Derrick Morgan,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
This Heat,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Joe Finger,
Bad Manners,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Basic Channel,
Mark Hollis,
Marvin Gaye,
Kaleidoscope,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Easy Going,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Jawbox,
Thompson Twins,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Second Layer,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Eric Dolphy,
Chris Corsano,
The Moody Blues,
Peter and Kerry, Peter and Kerry, Peter and Kerry, Peter and Kerry.
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.