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 Rwanda and from Tokyo.
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 1964 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Calgary and Lyon.
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 1971 at the first Neu! practice in a loft in Düsseldorf.
I was working on the guitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Charles Mingus to the rock kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 LL Cool J. All the underground hits.
All John Coltrane tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Bad Manners record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Flipper record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Knickerbockers,
The Smiths,
Royal Trux,
Bluetip,
The Fuzztones,
Suicide,
Gerry Rafferty,
Stereo Dub,
Sixth Finger,
David McCallum,
Crooked Eye,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Donald Byrd,
Morten Harket,
The Young Rascals,
Masters at Work,
Pulsallama,
Grauzone,
Sandy B,
The Fall,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Rekid,
Mission of Burma,
Ten City,
The Gladiators,
Danielle Patucci,
Marmalade,
MC5,
Man Parrish,
T.S.O.L.,
These Immortal Souls,
Scrapy,
Monks,
Japan,
Trumans Water,
Davy DMX,
Television,
Donny Hathaway,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Altered Images,
The Toasters,
Second Layer,
The Blues Magoos,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Hasil Adkins,
Basic Channel,
Pere Ubu,
Matthew Bourne,
In Retrospect,
Neu!,
The Pretty Things,
James Chance & The Contortions,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Interpol,
Accadde A,
Guru Guru,
Josef K,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
The Detroit Cobras,
The Motions,
The Tremeloes,
Blossom Toes, Blossom Toes, Blossom Toes, Blossom Toes.
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.