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 Ethiopia and from Shanghai.
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 1963 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Shanghai and Salvador.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Copenhagen 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 1979 at the first Second Layer practice in a loft in South London.
I was working on the oboe sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Man Parrish to the dance kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Mandrill. All the underground hits.
All Ken Boothe tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every New York Dolls 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 '80s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Robert Görl record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Music Machine,
Niagra,
Barry Ungar,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
T.S.O.L.,
Index,
Visage,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Lalo Schifrin,
Godley & Creme,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
The Associates,
Kayak,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Boz Scaggs,
Avey Tare,
Crime,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Stockholm Monsters,
Albert Ayler,
Basic Channel,
Essential Logic,
Heaven 17,
James White and The Blacks,
Yazoo,
ABC,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
John Cale,
The American Breed,
Joensuu 1685,
The Mojo Men,
Rosa Yemen,
Connie Case,
Bob Dylan,
Aural Exciters,
Byron Stingily,
Derrick Morgan,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Flipper,
Peter and Kerry,
Sister Nancy,
Sparks,
Second Layer,
Jacob Miller,
Dead Boys,
Fugazi,
The Blues Magoos,
Dorothy Ashby,
New Order,
Spandau Ballet,
A Certain Ratio,
The Pretty Things,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Robert Wyatt,
Chrome,
UT,
Yellowson,
The Leaves,
John Coltrane,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Soft Machine,
The Detroit Cobras,
Minny Pops,
Average White Band, Average White Band, Average White Band, Average White Band.
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.