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 Vietnam and from Tokyo.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Neu! show in Düsseldorf.
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 1969 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Toronto and Mumbai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Copenhagen 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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Nico to the jazz kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Last Poets. All the underground hits.
All Khruangbin tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Yaz record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Lafayette Afro Rock Band record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Unwound,
Gang Starr,
Ludus,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Schoolly D,
Funkadelic,
Flash Fearless,
Swans,
Neil Young,
The Gun Club,
Grey Daturas,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Warren Ellis,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Television Personalities,
Basic Channel,
Camberwell Now,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Bobby Byrd,
Y Pants,
Ken Boothe,
The Busters,
The Walker Brothers,
Cecil Taylor,
Lalann,
Scan 7,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
the Association,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Warsaw,
Johnny Clarke,
Grandmaster Flash,
Harpers Bizarre,
Shoche,
Peter & Gordon,
the Sonics,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Kurtis Blow,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
The Count Five,
Massinfluence,
The Dave Clark Five,
Max Romeo,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Absolute Body Control,
Ralphi Rosario,
Hoover,
La Düsseldorf,
Roxy Music,
Kerrie Biddell,
Cybotron,
Scratch Acid,
The Birthday Party,
Das Ding,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Derrick Morgan,
Alphaville,
John Coltrane,
Brothers Johnson,
Interpol, Interpol, Interpol, Interpol.
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.