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 Italy and from Bologna.
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 1968 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bremen and Spokane.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 güiro 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 The Motions to the techno 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 Men They Couldn't Hang. All the underground hits.
All The Doors tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Colin Newman record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz 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 theremin and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Joe Finger record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Sandy B,
Rakim,
The Martian,
10cc,
The Skatalites,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Whodini,
Toni Rubio,
The Fortunes,
L. Decosne,
Anthony Braxton,
James White and The Blacks,
Zero Boys,
Gang of Four,
Scratch Acid,
Throbbing Gristle,
The J.B.'s,
Ornette Coleman,
EPMD,
Loose Ends,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Young Marble Giants,
MC5,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
The Birthday Party,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Hasil Adkins,
The Smoke,
The Grass Roots,
Ralphi Rosario,
The Zeros,
Drive Like Jehu,
The Alarm Clocks,
Marvin Gaye,
Von Mondo,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
The Misunderstood,
Tomorrow,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Altered Images,
Quantec,
Bauhaus,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Bad Manners,
Reagan Youth,
Charles Mingus,
Soft Cell,
Tom Boy,
The New Christs,
E-Dancer,
Dawn Penn,
Silicon Teens,
Crispian St. Peters,
Duran Duran,
Easy Going,
Pet Shop Boys,
Gang Gang Dance,
Eric Dolphy,
Rites of Spring,
The Kinks,
Scientists,
Bill Near, Bill Near, Bill Near, Bill Near.
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.