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 Kiribati and from Winnipeg.
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 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Taipei and Toronto.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Madrid 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 güiro sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Patti Smith to the funk kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Association. All the underground hits.
All Gil Scott Heron tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Searchers record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Roy Ayers Ubiquity record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Erykah Badu,
Kool Moe Dee,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
L. Decosne,
The Flesh Eaters,
The Velvet Underground,
Jacob Miller,
Josef K,
Michelle Simonal,
Rotary Connection,
The Dave Clark Five,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Eyeless In Gaza,
The Vogues,
Bootsy Collins,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Half Japanese,
La Düsseldorf,
Pere Ubu,
CMW,
Patti Smith,
Absolute Body Control,
Rosa Yemen,
The Mummies,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
The Beau Brummels,
The Mighty Diamonds,
The Moody Blues,
Cymande,
Lindisfarne,
Pussy Galore,
John Lydon,
Johnny Osbourne,
T.S.O.L.,
Supertramp,
Lou Christie,
the Swans,
The Slits,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
The Gladiators,
The United States of America,
Thompson Twins,
Amon Düül,
Liliput,
Delon & Dalcan,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Black Bananas,
Loose Ends,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Tommy Roe,
Godley & Creme,
Hardrive,
Laurel Aitken,
Pole,
Eli Mardock,
D'Angelo,
Country Joe & The Fish,
The Walker Brothers,
Quadrant,
Robert Wyatt,
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.