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 Montenegro and from Lagos.
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 1963 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Accra.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 guitar 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 Dawn Penn to the grime 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 Qualms. All the underground hits.
All Bronski Beat tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Danielle Patucci record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge 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 harpsichord and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Stereo Dub record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Anthony Braxton,
Fela Kuti,
La Düsseldorf,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Little Man,
The United States of America,
The Moleskins,
Scott Walker,
Aloha Tigers,
MDC,
Crispian St. Peters,
Crash Course in Science,
Ituana,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Sixth Finger,
Barbara Tucker,
Cybotron,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Brick,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Marine Girls,
the Fania All-Stars,
The Gladiators,
Morten Harket,
Buzzcocks,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Tim Buckley,
Junior Murvin,
Yazoo,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Marvin Gaye,
Ken Boothe,
Drexciya,
Nation of Ulysses,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Bob Dylan,
Panda Bear,
Marcia Griffiths,
Quantec,
Excepter,
JFA,
Basic Channel,
Sexual Harrassment,
Vladislav Delay,
Roger Hodgson,
Joe Smooth,
The Doobie Brothers,
The Stooges,
Mantronix,
Kenny Larkin,
Tomorrow,
The Names,
Swans,
Minor Threat,
Gregory Isaacs,
June Days,
Supertramp,
Patti Smith,
Smog,
The Fugs,
Todd Rundgren,
Sound Behaviour, Sound Behaviour, Sound Behaviour, Sound Behaviour.
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.