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 Tajikistan and from Manchester.
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 1968 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Seoul and Manila.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Taipei 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 synthesizer 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 Swans to the grime kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Mars. All the underground hits.
All Derrick Morgan tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Rosa Yemen record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Youth Brigade record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Mo-Dettes,
Lee Hazlewood,
Archie Shepp,
Swell Maps,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Suburban Knight,
Minutemen,
Interpol,
PIL,
Soulsonic Force,
Livin' Joy,
Junior Murvin,
Pole,
The Leaves,
The Saints,
The Names,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Quando Quango,
Con Funk Shun,
Desert Stars,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Bill Near,
FM Einheit,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
T. Rex,
Robert Görl,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Cameo,
the Fania All-Stars,
Radiopuhelimet,
Intrusion,
The Gories,
The Move,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Jerry's Kids,
The Human League,
Amon Düül,
Oblivians,
The Invisible,
Hot Snakes,
Symarip,
Alphaville,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Magazine,
Gichy Dan,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Juan Atkins,
Subhumans,
Mary Jane Girls,
Bad Manners,
Panda Bear,
Grandmaster Flash,
Blossom Toes,
Dead Boys,
Japan,
Nik Kershaw,
E-Dancer,
Joyce Sims,
H. Thieme,
Excepter,
Maurizio,
Crooked Eye, Crooked Eye, Crooked Eye, Crooked Eye.
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.