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 Moldova and from Delhi.
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 Cairo and New York.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Johannesburg 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 guitar 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 Yusef Lateef to the disco kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Nick Fraelich. All the underground hits.
All Tres Demented tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Cosmic Jokers record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Aswad record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Beau Brummels,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Oneida,
Skaos,
Junior Murvin,
Pole,
Babytalk,
Beasts of Bourbon,
The Flesh Eaters,
Ohio Players,
Ultimate Spinach,
Cecil Taylor,
Barclay James Harvest,
Frankie Knuckles,
The Misunderstood,
The Wake,
The Searchers,
Cal Tjader,
Cheater Slicks,
Desert Stars,
Cymande,
Wings,
Public Enemy,
Isaac Hayes,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Eddi Front,
Ken Boothe,
Guru Guru,
Patti Smith,
Josef K,
Silicon Teens,
The Victims,
E-Dancer,
Joy Division,
Dark Day,
The Cosmic Jokers,
X-Ray Spex,
Pere Ubu,
Fela Kuti,
Magazine,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Tom Boy,
Loose Ends,
Soft Cell,
The Move,
Japan,
Zero Boys,
The Slackers,
The Walker Brothers,
Sunsets and Hearts,
The Neon Judgement,
Model 500,
Crispy Ambulance,
The Modern Lovers,
Barry Ungar,
Nick Fraelich,
Sarah Menescal,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Wasted Youth,
New York Dolls, New York Dolls, New York Dolls, New York Dolls.
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.