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 Sri Lanka and from Delhi.
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 1962 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and Johannesburg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Taipei 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 808 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 Tom Boy to the jazz kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 The Remains. All the underground hits.
All Rhythm & Sound tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Slits record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a mellotron and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Bush Tetras record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a linndrum.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Brick,
The American Breed,
the Normal,
The Fugs,
Shoche,
Todd Terry,
Con Funk Shun,
The Index,
The Slits,
the Human League,
Parry Music,
Johnny Clarke,
T.S.O.L.,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Q and Not U,
Suicide,
Whodini,
Roy Ayers,
The Cowsills,
The Cure,
Piero Umiliani,
Delon & Dalcan,
Eric Copeland,
Animal Collective,
Erykah Badu,
Tim Buckley,
Leonard Cohen,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Youth Brigade,
The Invisible,
Gang Starr,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Juan Atkins,
The Move,
The Trojans,
The Vogues,
Circle Jerks,
Harpers Bizarre,
Goldenarms,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Excepter,
Sight & Sound,
Bob Dylan,
Arthur Verocai,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Second Layer,
Drexciya,
Cluster,
Prince Buster,
Dennis Brown,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Flipper,
Essential Logic,
Joey Negro,
Depeche Mode,
Simply Red,
Warsaw,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
MDC,
Amazonics,
Hoover,
DNA, DNA, DNA, DNA.
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.