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 Cape Verde and from Accra.
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 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Hong Kong and Winnipeg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Paris 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 marimba 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 Tubeway Army to the electroclash kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Maurizio. All the underground hits.
All Kas Product tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Skatalites record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz 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 an organ and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Joe Smooth record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
MDC,
Bronski Beat,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Khruangbin,
Matthew Halsall,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Pylon,
Sällskapet,
The Grass Roots,
Little Man,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Michelle Simonal,
Mandrill,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Rhythm & Sound,
Brand Nubian,
The Selecter,
Neu!,
The Red Krayola,
Funkadelic,
Marc Almond,
Pierre Henry,
Accadde A,
The Flesh Eaters,
MC5,
Pharoah Sanders,
Stockholm Monsters,
Kaleidoscope,
The Move,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Sugar Minott,
Duran Duran,
Brick,
the Normal,
Skarface,
Ice-T,
Sam Rivers,
The Dirtbombs,
Kevin Saunderson,
Marmalade,
Boogie Down Productions,
Interpol,
The Walker Brothers,
Average White Band,
Jeff Lynne,
Fela Kuti,
The Searchers,
Tropical Tobacco,
Marine Girls,
Lalo Schifrin,
Crispian St. Peters,
Public Image Ltd.,
Saccharine Trust,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Deadbeat,
the Soft Cell,
Lucky Dragons,
Country Teasers,
Visage,
Hardrive, Hardrive, Hardrive, Hardrive.
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.