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 Venezuela and from London.
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 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Beijing and Shanghai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Sao Paulo 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 clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Curtis Mayfield to the jazz kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Lindisfarne. All the underground hits.
All Toni Rubio tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Pharoah Sanders record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Wolf Eyes record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Dual Sessions,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
the Human League,
Eli Mardock,
The Black Dice,
Cluster,
Ronan,
Crash Course in Science,
The Pop Group,
Charles Mingus,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Eve St. Jones,
Robert Wyatt,
Television Personalities,
Tommy Roe,
Porter Ricks,
Spandau Ballet,
The Sound,
The Last Poets,
Pulsallama,
The Standells,
Skarface,
Bang On A Can,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
The Cowsills,
Desert Stars,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Aural Exciters,
X-101,
Terry Callier,
Crooked Eye,
Maleditus Sound,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Letta Mbulu,
Ice-T,
Wasted Youth,
Public Image Ltd.,
Pagans,
Bill Near,
Funky Four + One,
The Slackers,
Intrusion,
The Star Department,
Unrelated Segments,
Tears for Fears,
Anakelly,
Maurizio,
Donald Byrd,
Motorama,
The Leaves,
Ponytail,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Aaron Thompson,
Big Daddy Kane,
Jacob Miller,
The Real Kids,
The Doobie Brothers,
Inner City,
Oblivians,
Jeff Mills,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Scratch Acid,
the Germs, the Germs, the Germs, the Germs.
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.