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 St Kitts & Nevis and from Seoul.
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 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manila and Shanghai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Madrid 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 Michael McDonald 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 Tremeloes to the punk kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Y Pants. All the underground hits.
All Liliput tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Heaven 17 record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a X-101 record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Grandmaster Flash,
Scientists,
The Music Machine,
The Cure,
Shoche,
The Saints,
Sex Pistols,
Guru Guru,
Thee Headcoats,
The Wake,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Unrelated Segments,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
the Normal,
DJ Sneak,
Gang Gang Dance,
Grauzone,
Pere Ubu,
Rufus Thomas,
Symarip,
Hoover,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
The Kinks,
Suburban Knight,
Brick,
Moebius,
Country Teasers,
Crooked Eye,
Mo-Dettes,
Alphaville,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Bobby Byrd,
Cybotron,
Lower 48,
James White and The Blacks,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Harpers Bizarre,
Stockholm Monsters,
Cal Tjader,
The Dirtbombs,
Scratch Acid,
Sight & Sound,
U.S. Maple,
JFA,
Mandrill,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Bronski Beat,
Amon Düül,
Fat Boys,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
June Days,
Stetsasonic,
Bill Wells,
Warsaw,
Derrick May,
Desert Stars,
the Germs,
Crispian St. Peters,
Warren Ellis,
Malaria!,
Chris & Cosey,
Little Man, Little Man, Little Man, Little Man.
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.