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 Comoros and from Tehran.
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 1965 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Milan and Manchester.
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 snare sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 The Martian to the disco kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Strawberry Alarm Clock. All the underground hits.
All Los Fastidios tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Sun Ra Arkestra 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying an organ and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a ABBA record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a spring reverb.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Byron Stingily,
Tim Buckley,
Main Source,
Quantec,
Roxette,
Althea and Donna,
Goldenarms,
OOIOO,
Scientists,
Reuben Wilson,
Jawbox,
Dead Boys,
Ohio Players,
the Soft Cell,
The Index,
the Bar-Kays,
Funkadelic,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Warren Ellis,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Rekid,
The Litter,
Swans,
Massinfluence,
Television Personalities,
Eric B and Rakim,
Section 25,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Ronnie Foster,
Bad Manners,
Cybotron,
Graham Central Station,
Pharoah Sanders,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Y Pants,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Frankie Knuckles,
The Electric Prunes,
JFA,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Bronski Beat,
Zapp,
Jeff Lynne,
Black Flag,
Robert Hood,
Suicide,
The United States of America,
Stereo Dub,
Barclay James Harvest,
Jeff Mills,
Terrestrial Tones,
Crispian St. Peters,
The Knickerbockers,
Danielle Patucci,
Icehouse,
Q and Not U,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Silicon Teens,
8 Eyed Spy,
The Misunderstood,
Inner City,
Loose Ends, Loose Ends, Loose Ends, Loose Ends.
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.