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 Ethiopia and from Stockholm.
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 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Spokane and Tokyo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lyon 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 rhodes sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Velvet Underground to the funk 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 Hoover. All the underground hits.
All Glambeats Corp. tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Don Cherry 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Ohio Players record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Panda Bear,
The Knickerbockers,
The Fall,
the Human League,
Roy Ayers,
Nils Olav,
Lalo Schifrin,
This Heat,
Reuben Wilson,
Black Bananas,
Sarah Menescal,
Ludus,
Parry Music,
Porter Ricks,
X-Ray Spex,
Lyres,
Hardrive,
Matthew Bourne,
Outsiders,
The Monks,
Technova,
Severed Heads,
The Gap Band,
10cc,
Juan Atkins,
Maleditus Sound,
Isaac Hayes,
Soft Cell,
The Skatalites,
Darondo,
The Young Rascals,
The Vogues,
Quantec,
Kevin Saunderson,
Mary Jane Girls,
Arab on Radar,
Desert Stars,
Heaven 17,
Smog,
Reagan Youth,
Suicide,
One Last Wish,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
DNA,
Royal Trux,
Oblivians,
Grey Daturas,
Anakelly,
Groovy Waters,
The Last Poets,
D'Angelo,
Shoche,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Piero Umiliani,
Ronnie Foster,
The Tremeloes,
Gang Green,
Rakim,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Bronski Beat,
Cecil Taylor,
Spoonie Gee, Spoonie Gee, Spoonie Gee, Spoonie Gee.
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.