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 Taiwan and from Portland.
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 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Glasgow and Accra.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Toronto 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 güiro 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 These Immortal Souls to the funk 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 Von Mondo. All the underground hits.
All Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Vaughan Mason & Crew 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Eric Dolphy record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a linndrum.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Saints,
The Monks,
Frankie Knuckles,
Bauhaus,
Black Moon,
The Slits,
Mission of Burma,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Ultravox,
Suburban Knight,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Grauzone,
Yazoo,
Connie Case,
The Leaves,
Negative Approach,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Roger Hodgson,
The Star Department,
Laurel Aitken,
Terrestrial Tones,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Curtis Mayfield,
Marine Girls,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Roy Ayers,
The Shadows of Knight,
Pylon,
KRS-One,
Simply Red,
Echospace,
Sex Pistols,
The Cramps,
Loose Ends,
The Wake,
Amon Düül,
The Red Krayola,
John Cale,
Faraquet,
Rosa Yemen,
The Cosmic Jokers,
DNA,
Spandau Ballet,
Goldenarms,
Cluster,
Mad Mike,
Ludus,
Rakim,
Animal Collective,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Roxy Music,
Rapeman,
Radiopuhelimet,
Henry Cow,
Malaria!,
Wolf Eyes,
Barrington Levy,
David McCallum,
Bronski Beat,
The Five Americans,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Excepter,
Gang Starr, Gang Starr, Gang Starr, Gang Starr.
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.