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 Libya and from Jakarta.
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 1969 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lille and Copenhagen.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Seoul 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 synthesizer sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Crispian St. Peters to the grime kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 MC5. All the underground hits.
All Outsiders tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Tropical Tobacco 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 chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a David McCallum record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Unwound,
Wings,
Sixth Finger,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Graham Central Station,
Thompson Twins,
Tim Buckley,
The Gun Club,
Throbbing Gristle,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Gregory Isaacs,
Section 25,
Freddie Wadling,
New Order,
Chris Corsano,
The Litter,
Brothers Johnson,
Pet Shop Boys,
Black Pus,
John Foxx,
The Golliwogs,
Yellowson,
Young Marble Giants,
The Gories,
Archie Shepp,
The Zeros,
Reagan Youth,
Bobbi Humphrey,
The Cure,
The Misunderstood,
Judy Mowatt,
Brick,
Banda Bassotti,
June Days,
Hot Snakes,
Fat Boys,
X-101,
Thee Headcoats,
Drive Like Jehu,
John Lydon,
Joe Smooth,
The Modern Lovers,
Don Cherry,
Marc Almond,
Toni Rubio,
X-102,
Massinfluence,
Deakin,
Zero Boys,
Make Up,
Terry Callier,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Kerri Chandler,
Stereo Dub,
The Young Rascals,
Joy Division,
Vainqueur,
Gong,
U.S. Maple, U.S. Maple, U.S. Maple, U.S. Maple.
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.