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 Paraguay and from Hong Kong.
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 Portland and Paris.
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 snare 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 Bobby Womack to the grime 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 Radiohead. All the underground hits.
All Byron Stingily tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Altered Images record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk 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 snare and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Talk Talk record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Amon Düül II,
Ponytail,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Soul Sonic Force,
Spoonie Gee,
Liliput,
The United States of America,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Hoover,
Siglo XX,
Echospace,
Barrington Levy,
Basic Channel,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Das Ding,
Laurel Aitken,
Gang Green,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Roger Hodgson,
Marshall Jefferson,
Groovy Waters,
The Invisible,
Suicide,
Circle Jerks,
David Axelrod,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Faraquet,
Alison Limerick,
Pole,
Boz Scaggs,
Drexciya,
Fat Boys,
Average White Band,
Peter & Gordon,
Can,
Public Image Ltd.,
Brass Construction,
Mary Jane Girls,
H. Thieme,
Metal Thangz,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Sixth Finger,
Isaac Hayes,
Yellowson,
The Durutti Column,
Lebanon Hanover,
Traffic Nightmare,
Ultimate Spinach,
Erykah Badu,
B.T. Express,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Bizarre Inc.,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
John Foxx,
Funkadelic, Funkadelic, Funkadelic, Funkadelic.
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.