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 Sri Lanka and from Johannesburg.
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 1960 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Beijing and Tokyo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manchester 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 theremin sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Blake Baxter to the electroclash 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 Heavy D & The Boyz. All the underground hits.
All 10cc tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Hardrive record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno 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 synthesizer and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a China Crisis record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
June of 44,
Susan Cadogan,
Glambeats Corp.,
Barclay James Harvest,
Rakim,
In Retrospect,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Supertramp,
Archie Shepp,
U.S. Maple,
Scientists,
Swans,
Kenny Larkin,
Derrick Morgan,
Derrick May,
Letta Mbulu,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
The United States of America,
World's Most,
Rapeman,
Harpers Bizarre,
The Count Five,
Radiopuhelimet,
Tears for Fears,
D'Angelo,
Yellowson,
The New Christs,
Marine Girls,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Sällskapet,
Parry Music,
Alphaville,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Tropical Tobacco,
Rotary Connection,
Peter and Kerry,
Stiv Bators,
Vladislav Delay,
Black Flag,
Bob Dylan,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
The Slits,
Jawbox,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Dead Boys,
Josef K,
Lungfish,
Warsaw,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Man Eating Sloth,
Shoche,
Delta 5,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Jacques Brel,
Todd Rundgren,
Chris Corsano,
Yaz,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Skriet, Skriet, Skriet, Skriet.
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.