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 Guinea-Bissau and from Cairo.
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 1968 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lille and Bremen.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Spokane 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 808 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 Alphaville to the techno 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 Throbbing Gristle. All the underground hits.
All Scion tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Kurtis Blow record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock 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 808 and a spring reverb 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 guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar 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 Doors,
Procol Harum,
Wings,
the Germs,
The Gladiators,
Grauzone,
Scion,
John Holt,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Chrome,
Sarah Menescal,
Eden Ahbez,
Excepter,
Average White Band,
Goldenarms,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Public Image Ltd.,
Jeru the Damaja,
The Techniques,
The Flesh Eaters,
Cal Tjader,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Arab on Radar,
The Fugs,
Niagra,
Albert Ayler,
The Dead C,
Fugazi,
Kerrie Biddell,
Leonard Cohen,
The Smoke,
Lucky Dragons,
Gabor Szabo,
Roxette,
Y Pants,
John Cale,
The Fire Engines,
Ultimate Spinach,
The Detroit Cobras,
Magazine,
Anthony Braxton,
Derrick Morgan,
Matthew Bourne,
Angry Samoans,
Inner City,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
LL Cool J,
The Beau Brummels,
Rufus Thomas,
James White and The Blacks,
In Retrospect,
Lungfish,
Idris Muhammad,
Faust,
Model 500,
Cybotron,
Nico,
Black Bananas,
The Walker Brothers, The Walker Brothers, The Walker Brothers, The Walker Brothers.
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.