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 Laos and from Manila.
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 1966 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bologna and Hong Kong.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Beijing 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 Tom Verlaine 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 Scan 7 to the jazz kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Nick Fraelich. All the underground hits.
All Junior Murvin tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Freddie Wadling record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock 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 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 Tears for Fears record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Graham Central Station,
The Durutti Column,
Basic Channel,
Sonic Youth,
The Divine Comedy,
Letta Mbulu,
Theoretical Girls,
Jimmy McGriff,
Rakim,
Maleditus Sound,
Marine Girls,
Sonny Sharrock,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
The Slackers,
Fad Gadget,
The Walker Brothers,
Ultra Naté,
Monolake,
10cc,
Swans,
Terrestrial Tones,
Laurel Aitken,
Tears for Fears,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
T.S.O.L.,
The Buckinghams,
Audionom,
Howard Jones,
Quando Quango,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Marmalade,
The Trojans,
The Sonics,
The Mojo Men,
The Raincoats,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Agent Orange,
Thee Headcoats,
World's Most,
Depeche Mode,
Kool Moe Dee,
MDC,
Amon Düül II,
Zero Boys,
Susan Cadogan,
Leonard Cohen,
Brothers Johnson,
Davy DMX,
The Gun Club,
Sun City Girls,
Black Moon,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
The Doobie Brothers,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Qualms,
Black Sheep,
The Electric Prunes,
Cluster,
Gil Scott Heron,
Khruangbin,
Morten Harket, Morten Harket, Morten Harket, Morten Harket.
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.