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 Haiti and from Shanghai.
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 1961 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Glasgow and Manila.
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 spring reverb 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 X-102 to the grunge kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Yellowson. All the underground hits.
All Warsaw tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Warren Ellis 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Swell Maps record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Charles Mingus,
Darondo,
Tom Boy,
Sarah Menescal,
Mr. Review,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Bill Near,
Yellowson,
Yusef Lateef,
Jeru the Damaja,
Quadrant,
Essential Logic,
Saccharine Trust,
Harpers Bizarre,
Adolescents,
Lightning Bolt,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
The Kinks,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Carl Craig,
Excepter,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Bobbi Humphrey,
World's Most,
Kerri Chandler,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Tropical Tobacco,
JFA,
Monks,
The Move,
cv313,
Lungfish,
The Skatalites,
Eddi Front,
Porter Ricks,
Supertramp,
Kas Product,
The Busters,
Alison Limerick,
Masters at Work,
The Barracudas,
Negative Approach,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Angry Samoans,
Stockholm Monsters,
Gichy Dan,
Unwound,
T. Rex,
Sun Ra,
Popol Vuh,
Alphaville,
DJ Style,
Harry Pussy,
Aloha Tigers,
These Immortal Souls,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Electric Prunes,
Scientists,
Traffic Nightmare,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Colin Newman,
Parry Music, Parry Music, Parry Music, Parry Music.
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.