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 Cape Verde and from Lagos.
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 1960 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Glasgow and Houston.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school London 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 1971 at the first Neu! practice in a loft in Düsseldorf.
I was working on the synthesizer 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 Tubeway Army to the grime 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 Marcia Griffiths. All the underground hits.
All The Knickerbockers tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Schoolly D record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk 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 clarinet and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Skaos record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a linndrum.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Warsaw,
Freddie Wadling,
The Saints,
Bang On A Can,
Joy Division,
The Vogues,
Lower 48,
World's Most,
Jacob Miller,
The Pretty Things,
the Swans,
The Tremeloes,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
The American Breed,
The Residents,
Magma,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Q and Not U,
The Move,
Lindisfarne,
Mark Hollis,
Crispian St. Peters,
The Mojo Men,
Duran Duran,
The Flesh Eaters,
Rhythm & Sound,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Roger Hodgson,
The Beau Brummels,
Gabor Szabo,
Aloha Tigers,
Nick Fraelich,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
the Fania All-Stars,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Grandmaster Flash,
Can,
Ice-T,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Gang Gang Dance,
The Human League,
Agent Orange,
the Germs,
K-Klass,
Banda Bassotti,
Camberwell Now,
Susan Cadogan,
Au Pairs,
China Crisis,
The Durutti Column,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Chris & Cosey,
LL Cool J,
Fear,
Barrington Levy,
Panda Bear,
Radio Birdman,
Livin' Joy,
Sun City Girls,
The Count Five,
David Bowie,
The Motions,
Half Japanese, Half Japanese, Half Japanese, Half Japanese.
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.