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 Honduras and from Cairo.
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 1960 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manchester and Bremen.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Beijing 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 rhodes sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Joe Smooth to the punk 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 Rhythim Is Rhythim. All the underground hits.
All Pole tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Judy Mowatt 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 '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 Major Organ And The Adding Machine record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Dave Clark Five,
Letta Mbulu,
Camouflage,
Gregory Isaacs,
Tubeway Army,
Rosa Yemen,
the Normal,
La Düsseldorf,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Bauhaus,
Procol Harum,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Scientists,
Archie Shepp,
a-ha,
Mandrill,
Radio Birdman,
Rekid,
David McCallum,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
Fela Kuti,
Drexciya,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Dennis Brown,
the Swans,
Bizarre Inc.,
Buzzcocks,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
The Fire Engines,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Wolf Eyes,
Joey Negro,
The Count Five,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Absolute Body Control,
Sexual Harrassment,
Echospace,
Byron Stingily,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Nico,
X-102,
the Soft Cell,
Nirvana,
Man Eating Sloth,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
The Names,
Traffic Nightmare,
The Music Machine,
Moss Icon,
John Lydon,
Marvin Gaye,
Ice-T,
The Beau Brummels,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Animal Collective,
Joe Smooth,
Shuggie Otis,
Joe Finger,
Josef K, Josef K, Josef K, Josef K.
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.