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 Montenegro and from Seoul.
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 1965 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Philadelphia and Edmonton.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lille 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 oboe 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 the Soft Cell to the grunge kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 China Crisis. All the underground hits.
All Joyce Sims tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Livin' Joy 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Moby Grape record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Fire Engines,
Curtis Mayfield,
The Count Five,
the Bar-Kays,
Spoonie Gee,
JFA,
Tom Boy,
Supertramp,
Peter & Gordon,
Second Layer,
Mandrill,
Panda Bear,
The Selecter,
Animal Collective,
The Shadows of Knight,
La Düsseldorf,
Josef K,
Chris & Cosey,
Bobby Byrd,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Jandek,
The Human League,
Suburban Knight,
Anakelly,
Maleditus Sound,
Agent Orange,
LL Cool J,
Yaz,
Bob Dylan,
Moebius,
Boogie Down Productions,
Peter and Kerry,
The Buckinghams,
Livin' Joy,
Robert Hood,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
The Fortunes,
Deepchord,
Howard Jones,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
The Angels of Light,
Theoretical Girls,
Lungfish,
Lyres,
Ultimate Spinach,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Kerrie Biddell,
Joe Finger,
Loose Ends,
Eve St. Jones,
Sonny Sharrock,
Swell Maps,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Steve Hackett,
Tears for Fears,
Sugar Minott,
Pantytec,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Jeff Lynne, Jeff Lynne, Jeff Lynne, Jeff Lynne.
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.