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 Mexico and from Bologna.
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 1961 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Johannesburg and Columbus.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Shanghai 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 synthesizer 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 Ralphi Rosario to the electroclash 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 Public Enemy. All the underground hits.
All Throbbing Gristle tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Standells record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a rhodes and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Jeff Lynne record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
ABBA,
X-102,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
The Saints,
Dave Gahan,
Ponytail,
Deadbeat,
Ornette Coleman,
La Düsseldorf,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Brass Construction,
These Immortal Souls,
CMW,
Blossom Toes,
Joyce Sims,
Wire,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Sun Ra,
The New Christs,
The Knickerbockers,
Dawn Penn,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
The Count Five,
Swans,
Peter & Gordon,
John Coltrane,
The Fuzztones,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Piero Umiliani,
the Slits,
Sixth Finger,
Camouflage,
Country Teasers,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Dennis Brown,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Gichy Dan,
The Gap Band,
Iggy Pop,
The Vogues,
Popol Vuh,
Index,
The Cowsills,
Gang Gang Dance,
Dorothy Ashby,
Kas Product,
Ralphi Rosario,
the Human League,
The Fugs,
Sun City Girls,
Cheater Slicks,
Wally Richardson,
Interpol,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Crispy Ambulance,
The Pretty Things,
Anakelly,
Graham Central Station,
Unrelated Segments,
E-Dancer,
Mr. Review,
Marine Girls, Marine Girls, Marine Girls, Marine Girls.
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.