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 Switzerland and from Tehran.
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 1967 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lille and Columbus.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Shanghai 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 snare sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Japan to the rock 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 Roy Ayers Ubiquity. All the underground hits.
All The Last Poets tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every A Certain Ratio 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Oneida record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
China Crisis,
Terry Callier,
Lebanon Hanover,
A Certain Ratio,
Chris & Cosey,
Stetsasonic,
Masters at Work,
Henry Cow,
Ice-T,
Young Marble Giants,
Crash Course in Science,
The Gap Band,
John Cale,
Throbbing Gristle,
The Offenders,
Electric Prunes,
Cal Tjader,
Kaleidoscope,
Public Enemy,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Matthew Bourne,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
The Slackers,
Blake Baxter,
Dead Boys,
Gong,
FM Einheit,
Symarip,
The Tremeloes,
The Birthday Party,
Eurythmics,
New Age Steppers,
Drive Like Jehu,
kango's stein massive,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Lou Reed,
Ossler,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
The Trojans,
Youth Brigade,
The Slits,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
Piero Umiliani,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Desert Stars,
cv313,
Inner City,
Chrome,
The Gories,
Television Personalities,
Aloha Tigers,
Unrelated Segments,
Terrestrial Tones,
The Buckinghams,
Minny Pops,
Charles Mingus,
Jacques Brel,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Au Pairs,
The American Breed,
The Sonics,
Cecil Taylor, Cecil Taylor, Cecil Taylor, Cecil Taylor.
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.