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 Jamaica and from Winnipeg.
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 1969 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Hong Kong and Philadelphia.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lille 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 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 The Smiths to the rock kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Joyce Sims. All the underground hits.
All Spandau Ballet tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Donny Hathaway record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk 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 synthesizer and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Harmonia record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Inner City,
Erykah Badu,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Albert Ayler,
Erasure,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
Ronan,
a-ha,
New York Dolls,
The Moleskins,
Blancmange,
Anakelly,
Dorothy Ashby,
Eurythmics,
The Busters,
Gil Scott Heron,
James White and The Blacks,
Shoche,
Kevin Saunderson,
Wire,
Kerri Chandler,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
Severed Heads,
Groovy Waters,
Michelle Simonal,
Von Mondo,
Alton Ellis,
Delta 5,
The Music Machine,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Bootsy Collins,
the Sonics,
U.S. Maple,
Model 500,
Jesper Dahlback,
The Cowsills,
Barry Ungar,
Agitation Free,
Thee Headcoats,
Delon & Dalcan,
Ponytail,
Mantronix,
Duran Duran,
H. Thieme,
Soulsonic Force,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Tomorrow,
ABC,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Yellowson,
Chrome,
The Index,
Technova,
The Skatalites,
Bauhaus,
Fat Boys,
The Sound,
Barclay James Harvest,
Arab on Radar,
Main Source,
Wolf Eyes,
Sight & Sound,
The Toasters,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Unrelated Segments, Unrelated Segments, Unrelated Segments, Unrelated Segments.
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.