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 Israel and from Beijing.
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 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lyon and Taipei.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school London 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 Lou Reed 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 Mission of Burma to the funk 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 Neil Young & Crazy Horse. All the underground hits.
All Rites of Spring tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every DNA 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Strawberry Alarm Clock record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The American Breed,
Sixth Finger,
Mantronix,
Skriet,
The Flesh Eaters,
Boogie Down Productions,
Ituana,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Davy DMX,
Lungfish,
The Blackbyrds,
Simply Red,
The Standells,
Gang Starr,
Lower 48,
Young Marble Giants,
Magma,
Pere Ubu,
The Evens,
Jesper Dahlback,
Ten City,
Fluxion,
Silicon Teens,
Amazonics,
Soft Cell,
The Happenings,
Robert Wyatt,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Surgeon,
The Sound,
Amon Düül II,
New Age Steppers,
June of 44,
Country Teasers,
The Gories,
Japan,
Shoche,
The Techniques,
Letta Mbulu,
Eric Copeland,
Minny Pops,
The Toasters,
Gabor Szabo,
Colin Newman,
The Victims,
Bush Tetras,
Gong,
Gregory Isaacs,
Negative Approach,
Bill Near,
The Pretty Things,
LL Cool J,
Lou Reed,
Essential Logic,
Michelle Simonal,
Terry Callier,
The Modern Lovers,
Max Romeo,
Marine Girls,
Black Sheep,
Yusef Lateef,
The Remains, The Remains, The Remains, The Remains.
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.