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 Gabon and from Tokyo.
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 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Edmonton and London.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Cairo 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 oboe sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Rhythim Is Rhythim to the funk kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Cluster. All the underground hits.
All Grey Daturas tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Schoolly D 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a linndrum and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a ABC 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?
DNA,
Fad Gadget,
Ohio Players,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Lebanon Hanover,
Echospace,
Heaven 17,
8 Eyed Spy,
Rapeman,
the Human League,
These Immortal Souls,
X-Ray Spex,
Swans,
Rakim,
Marcia Griffiths,
The Red Krayola,
Second Layer,
David McCallum,
The Sound,
Avey Tare,
Grauzone,
Bob Dylan,
The Associates,
The Modern Lovers,
Minutemen,
Trumans Water,
Nico,
the Association,
Scan 7,
Ash Ra Tempel,
The Blackbyrds,
Young Marble Giants,
Wasted Youth,
Michelle Simonal,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
John Cale,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
The Barracudas,
Warren Ellis,
H. Thieme,
Bronski Beat,
Niagra,
Blake Baxter,
Simply Red,
Oneida,
Curtis Mayfield,
Kas Product,
Mo-Dettes,
Vainqueur,
Eurythmics,
The Electric Prunes,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
The New Christs,
Hoover,
Tomorrow,
Laurel Aitken,
The Offenders,
The Invisible,
Marvin Gaye,
Inner City,
Flash Fearless,
Neil Young, Neil Young, Neil Young, Neil Young.
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.