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 Uganda and from Accra.
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 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Columbus and Copenhagen.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manila 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 theremin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Chris & Cosey to the funk kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Notorious Big And Bone Thugs. All the underground hits.
All Animal Collective tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Motorama 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Patti Smith 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?
Vainqueur,
Al Stewart,
The Techniques,
The Misunderstood,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Sällskapet,
Ronnie Foster,
In Retrospect,
Gregory Isaacs,
Qualms,
Eric B and Rakim,
Rekid,
Mission of Burma,
The Grass Roots,
The Buckinghams,
The Slits,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Skaos,
Letta Mbulu,
Archie Shepp,
Thee Headcoats,
The Last Poets,
Eve St. Jones,
Iggy Pop,
Harry Pussy,
The Doors,
MC5,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Don Cherry,
The American Breed,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
The Toasters,
PIL,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Deakin,
Brothers Johnson,
Boz Scaggs,
The Blackbyrds,
Rhythm & Sound,
Derrick Morgan,
Cecil Taylor,
The Angels of Light,
The Shadows of Knight,
Amon Düül II,
B.T. Express,
Ituana,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Wings,
Echospace,
Neil Young,
Jeru the Damaja,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Cluster,
Josef K,
the Swans,
The Searchers,
Das Ding,
Scott Walker,
Sugar Minott,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Little Man,
London Community Gospel Choir,
The Zeros,
The Selecter, The Selecter, The Selecter, The Selecter.
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.