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 Colombia and from Accra.
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 1964 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Houston and Mexico City.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 linndrum 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 New Order to the disco kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Pere Ubu. All the underground hits.
All Strawberry Alarm Clock tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Neon Judgement record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash 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 a spring reverb and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Moby Grape record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Max Romeo,
Donny Hathaway,
Marshall Jefferson,
Gabor Szabo,
The Skatalites,
Tom Boy,
The New Christs,
Suicide,
Gichy Dan,
Aswad,
Half Japanese,
Robert Görl,
Danielle Patucci,
Davy DMX,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Man Eating Sloth,
UT,
Public Image Ltd.,
Babytalk,
E-Dancer,
Derrick May,
Radiohead,
Joey Negro,
The Associates,
Cecil Taylor,
The Saints,
Pere Ubu,
The Flesh Eaters,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
Grey Daturas,
EPMD,
Leonard Cohen,
Gil Scott Heron,
Avey Tare,
David McCallum,
Janne Schatter,
Dorothy Ashby,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Marvin Gaye,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Ituana,
The Names,
The Five Americans,
Skaos,
D'Angelo,
Black Sheep,
Jandek,
Spandau Ballet,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Sonic Youth,
Gerry Rafferty,
Crash Course in Science,
Gastr Del Sol,
Country Teasers,
Cluster,
Kaleidoscope,
Tubeway Army,
Surgeon,
Dual Sessions,
Sonny Sharrock,
Howard Jones, Howard Jones, Howard Jones, Howard Jones.
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.