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 Marshall Islands and from Copenhagen.
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 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Copenhagen and Portland.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Mumbai 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 oboe sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Jacques Brel to the jazz 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 Brand Nubian. All the underground hits.
All Peter & Gordon tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Rhythm & Sound 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a rhodes and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Pagans record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Sonny Sharrock,
Average White Band,
Grauzone,
Altered Images,
Boogie Down Productions,
Depeche Mode,
Yaz,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
The Vogues,
Soul Sonic Force,
Lebanon Hanover,
Tears for Fears,
Mary Jane Girls,
The Dead C,
Basic Channel,
Drive Like Jehu,
The Zeros,
Pet Shop Boys,
Slave,
Swell Maps,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Tubeway Army,
Byron Stingily,
Jeff Mills,
The Evens,
The Fire Engines,
Pussy Galore,
Bobby Hutcherson,
The Busters,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Underground Resistance,
Spoonie Gee,
KRS-One,
Vladislav Delay,
Das Ding,
Los Fastidios,
Index,
Radiohead,
Kas Product,
Alton Ellis,
Eve St. Jones,
Pulsallama,
The Trojans,
Arcadia,
Boz Scaggs,
Bauhaus,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Pharoah Sanders,
Aural Exciters,
Hoover,
Silicon Teens,
Bob Dylan,
The Names,
Eyeless In Gaza,
The Techniques,
Ultimate Spinach,
Al Stewart,
ABBA,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
The Human League,
Sight & Sound,
Soul II Soul,
Shuggie Otis,
Eric Dolphy,
Nils Olav, Nils Olav, Nils Olav, Nils Olav.
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.