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 Turkmenistan and from Johannesburg.
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 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Glasgow and Johannesburg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Winnipeg 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 harpsichord sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Model 500 to the punk 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 Robert Wyatt. All the underground hits.
All Todd Rundgren tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Ornette Coleman record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Flesh Eaters record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Angels of Light,
Gang Green,
Black Sheep,
Mars,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Funkadelic,
Erykah Badu,
8 Eyed Spy,
The Dead C,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Bronski Beat,
Fela Kuti,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Amazonics,
Lou Reed,
The Birthday Party,
H. Thieme,
The Real Kids,
Ronan,
Unwound,
Young Marble Giants,
Gastr Del Sol,
Black Pus,
The Flesh Eaters,
Public Image Ltd.,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Lakeside,
Quadrant,
La Düsseldorf,
Glambeats Corp.,
Soft Cell,
Blancmange,
Swans,
Fluxion,
Ornette Coleman,
DJ Sneak,
Don Cherry,
Tubeway Army,
Donald Byrd,
Underground Resistance,
Sonic Youth,
Lucky Dragons,
Eurythmics,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Clear Light,
Nick Fraelich,
Darondo,
B.T. Express,
Heaven 17,
Swell Maps,
The Mojo Men,
Jawbox,
Joe Smooth,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
FM Einheit,
The Walker Brothers,
Au Pairs,
Harmonia,
Tears for Fears,
Nils Olav, Nils Olav, Nils Olav, Nils Olav.
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.