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 Dominica and from Cairo.
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 1967 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manchester and Mumbai.
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 1968 at the first Can practice in a loft in Cologne.
I was working on the mellotron sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell to the disco 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 Gories. All the underground hits.
All Bob Dylan tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Bad Manners 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 '70s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Neu! record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Donald Byrd,
Rakim,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Rapeman,
Dead Boys,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Thee Headcoats,
Bluetip,
Johnny Osbourne,
Grandmaster Flash,
Royal Trux,
Surgeon,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
The Leaves,
Lucky Dragons,
Siglo XX,
The Monochrome Set,
The Standells,
The Names,
E-Dancer,
Agent Orange,
Donny Hathaway,
Suburban Knight,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Wolf Eyes,
The Dirtbombs,
The Martian,
Gang Green,
The Knickerbockers,
Rosa Yemen,
Supertramp,
Ossler,
Magazine,
The Wake,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
The J.B.'s,
Quando Quango,
The Modern Lovers,
Excepter,
Dennis Brown,
Pantytec,
Slick Rick,
Con Funk Shun,
Gastr Del Sol,
La Düsseldorf,
Davy DMX,
The Grass Roots,
Curtis Mayfield,
Marvin Gaye,
the Germs,
Shoche,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Glambeats Corp.,
Lakeside,
Cabaret Voltaire,
The Velvet Underground,
Unrelated Segments,
The Young Rascals,
Radiopuhelimet,
Barry Ungar,
Glenn Branca, Glenn Branca, Glenn Branca, Glenn Branca.
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.