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 Cameroon and from Bologna.
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 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Houston and Winnipeg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Spokane 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 arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Das Ding to the punk 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 Stetsasonic. All the underground hits.
All The Misunderstood tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every the Sonics record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a linndrum and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Iggy Pop record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar 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?
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Terry Callier,
Drive Like Jehu,
Pet Shop Boys,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Prince Buster,
The Slackers,
Junior Murvin,
DJ Sneak,
The Golliwogs,
Harmonia,
Bush Tetras,
Skriet,
These Immortal Souls,
EPMD,
Sonic Youth,
Vladislav Delay,
Ten City,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Mad Mike,
Black Bananas,
The Move,
Arthur Verocai,
Fat Boys,
Severed Heads,
Marshall Jefferson,
Amazonics,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Essential Logic,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Bang On A Can,
Barclay James Harvest,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
The Cure,
The Durutti Column,
The Skatalites,
Subhumans,
Leonard Cohen,
Main Source,
Magma,
The Sonics,
Au Pairs,
Sarah Menescal,
Laurel Aitken,
The Mummies,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Little Man,
Isaac Hayes,
Mission of Burma,
Slave,
Radio Birdman,
Donny Hathaway,
Metal Thangz,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
The Standells,
Simply Red,
Delta 5,
Eurythmics,
Scion,
Adolescents,
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.