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 Azerbaijan and from Lyon.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Neu! show in Düsseldorf.
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 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Cairo and New York.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Portland 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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the mellotron 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 Robert Görl to the punk 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 The Mummies. All the underground hits.
All Bill Near tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Fall record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Sonic Youth record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Chrome,
Scratch Acid,
Warren Ellis,
Cymande,
Marine Girls,
The Golliwogs,
Lungfish,
Max Romeo,
Girls At Our Best!,
Aural Exciters,
Ice-T,
the Swans,
Moby Grape,
Derrick May,
Joyce Sims,
Curtis Mayfield,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
The Human League,
CMW,
Metal Thangz,
Basic Channel,
Sonic Youth,
The Stooges,
Bootsy Collins,
Wasted Youth,
Jawbox,
Rhythm & Sound,
Young Marble Giants,
Sister Nancy,
Khruangbin,
Tubeway Army,
The Velvet Underground,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Flipper,
Dual Sessions,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Scientists,
Wire,
The Cosmic Jokers,
The Star Department,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Ronan,
Television,
Slick Rick,
The Pop Group,
Public Image Ltd.,
The Martian,
Donny Hathaway,
Gil Scott Heron,
Nirvana,
The Grass Roots,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Ossler,
The Angels of Light,
James White and The Blacks,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
The Kinks,
Andrew Hill,
Junior Murvin,
Fear,
The Divine Comedy,
Monks, Monks, Monks, Monks.
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.