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 Congo and from Lille.
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 1961 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Madrid and Shanghai.
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 1971 at the first Neu! practice in a loft in Düsseldorf.
I was working on the theremin sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Human League to the jazz 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 David Bowie. All the underground hits.
All Funky Four + One tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Reuben Wilson record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Gichy Dan record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
ABBA,
Sam Rivers,
Glambeats Corp.,
Alice Coltrane,
The Angels of Light,
Lindisfarne,
Intrusion,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Crispian St. Peters,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Ohio Players,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Tubeway Army,
Cal Tjader,
The Dave Clark Five,
Con Funk Shun,
The Monochrome Set,
Black Bananas,
John Holt,
Schoolly D,
Alton Ellis,
Monks,
Fat Boys,
Marshall Jefferson,
Brand Nubian,
Camberwell Now,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Television Personalities,
F. McDonald,
the Normal,
Don Cherry,
Malaria!,
Dual Sessions,
Johnny Osbourne,
Rufus Thomas,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
The Flesh Eaters,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
The Cowsills,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Monolake,
Black Moon,
This Heat,
Kas Product,
Lightning Bolt,
The Red Krayola,
Dorothy Ashby,
Carl Craig,
In Retrospect,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
Deepchord,
Scrapy,
Roxette,
Tears for Fears,
Thompson Twins,
Patti Smith,
Swell Maps,
Organ,
Iggy Pop,
Inner City,
Eric B and Rakim,
Dennis Brown, Dennis Brown, Dennis Brown, Dennis Brown.
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.