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 Kyrgyzstan and from Johannesburg.
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 1969 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lyon and Johannesburg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Delhi 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 808 sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Eric Dolphy to the grime kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 FM Einheit. All the underground hits.
All Beasts of Bourbon tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Louis and Bebe Barron 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Barclay James Harvest record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Marine Girls,
Altered Images,
Sexual Harrassment,
Blancmange,
Essential Logic,
Nas,
Nils Olav,
Wire,
Soul II Soul,
Drive Like Jehu,
Scott Walker,
Fatback Band,
Porter Ricks,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Reuben Wilson,
Amon Düül,
Ice-T,
Iggy Pop,
Henry Cow,
Audionom,
Sällskapet,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Dave Gahan,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Agitation Free,
Minor Threat,
This Heat,
The Slits,
The Music Machine,
X-Ray Spex,
Yusef Lateef,
Tom Boy,
Cybotron,
Hardrive,
Sandy B,
The Smiths,
Jeff Lynne,
Flash Fearless,
Brothers Johnson,
Brick,
Loose Ends,
Crooked Eye,
The Techniques,
Ultra Naté,
Roxy Music,
Rekid,
The Evens,
The Black Dice,
Boredoms,
Eric Copeland,
Brass Construction,
Jacob Miller,
Ultravox,
Newcleus,
The Count Five,
Das Ding,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Mad Mike,
Panda Bear,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Adolescents,
The Slackers,
The Smoke, The Smoke, The Smoke, The Smoke.
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.