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 Burundi and from New York.
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 1966 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Stockholm and Madrid.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Delhi 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 marimba 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 Matthew Halsall to the techno kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Kurtis Blow. All the underground hits.
All The Victims tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Fad Gadget record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Yazoo record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a spring reverb.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
FM Einheit,
Idris Muhammad,
Eli Mardock,
Tom Boy,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Saccharine Trust,
China Crisis,
Fatback Band,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Sällskapet,
Radio Birdman,
Quantec,
R.M.O.,
Stetsasonic,
Subhumans,
Nik Kershaw,
Dennis Brown,
The Zeros,
Hardrive,
Black Moon,
Stiv Bators,
Henry Cow,
Japan,
Trumans Water,
The New Christs,
Moebius,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Peter and Kerry,
Josef K,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
The Black Dice,
Nas,
Jesper Dahlback,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Public Image Ltd.,
Scion,
Gabor Szabo,
Steve Hackett,
Nick Fraelich,
Loose Ends,
Main Source,
The Toasters,
Second Layer,
Agitation Free,
Rites of Spring,
MC5,
Eve St. Jones,
The Vogues,
The Modern Lovers,
Bang On A Can,
Bob Dylan,
Livin' Joy,
Television Personalities,
James White and The Blacks,
Lindisfarne,
Scientists,
Lalo Schifrin,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Duran Duran,
KRS-One,
Kevin Saunderson,
Johnny Clarke,
Gerry Rafferty,
Index, Index, Index, Index.
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.