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 Maldives 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 1968 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Hong Kong and Spokane.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Paris 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 1968 at the first Can practice in a loft in Cologne.
I was working on the spring reverb sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Arab on Radar to the grunge kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Hasil Adkins. All the underground hits.
All Chrome tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Toasters record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge 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 güiro and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Pierre Henry record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Erykah Badu,
Neil Young,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Boogie Down Productions,
The Gap Band,
Surgeon,
Basic Channel,
Matthew Halsall,
Tim Buckley,
New Age Steppers,
Sandy B,
Gang Gang Dance,
Interpol,
Yaz,
Nico,
Man Parrish,
Arthur Verocai,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Morten Harket,
The Fuzztones,
Symarip,
Negative Approach,
Sparks,
Joy Division,
Warren Ellis,
H. Thieme,
Half Japanese,
Agent Orange,
The Walker Brothers,
The Young Rascals,
Barry Ungar,
Y Pants,
Bauhaus,
Neu!,
Crooked Eye,
Todd Rundgren,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Roxette,
Jeff Mills,
Idris Muhammad,
Sun City Girls,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
Cheater Slicks,
Siglo XX,
the Normal,
Crime,
Talk Talk,
A Certain Ratio,
Eric Dolphy,
Niagra,
Spandau Ballet,
Fluxion,
The Neon Judgement,
The New Christs,
Bizarre Inc.,
Index,
Black Pus,
The Flesh Eaters,
The Litter,
Lungfish,
Skaos, Skaos, Skaos, Skaos.
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.