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 St Lucia and from Mumbai.
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 1967 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Toronto and Cairo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Delhi 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 Michael McDonald 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 Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx to the crunk 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 Radiohead. All the underground hits.
All Bad Manners tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Monochrome Set record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance 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 synthesizer and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Scratch Acid record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Grass Roots,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Severed Heads,
Fluxion,
Cymande,
Terry Callier,
Crime,
Pussy Galore,
Kayak,
Leonard Cohen,
Lucky Dragons,
Ultra Naté,
Chris & Cosey,
Soul II Soul,
The Durutti Column,
Cluster,
Marvin Gaye,
Magma,
Terrestrial Tones,
Piero Umiliani,
Heaven 17,
Flash Fearless,
Youth Brigade,
Camron Feat. Jay Z And Juelz,
Reuben Wilson,
the Normal,
Sparks,
Sam Rivers,
Jandek,
The Fall,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
The Young Rascals,
Lee Hazlewood,
Drive Like Jehu,
Absolute Body Control,
Sight & Sound,
the Germs,
This Heat,
Girls At Our Best!,
Grauzone,
The Happenings,
Lindisfarne,
Urselle,
Khruangbin,
The Black Dice,
The Vogues,
James White and The Blacks,
Albert Ayler,
Idris Muhammad,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Q and Not U,
Jeru the Damaja,
The Names,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
ABBA,
Eric Dolphy,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
The Moody Blues,
Maurizio,
The Smiths, The Smiths, The Smiths, The Smiths.
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.