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 Iran 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 1962 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bologna and London.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Jakarta 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 clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 David McCallum to the electroclash 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 Glenn Branca. All the underground hits.
All Charles Mingus tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Beau Brummels record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a 808 and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Slackers record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Bauhaus,
the Normal,
Bluetip,
Fad Gadget,
The Cowsills,
Eurythmics,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Sam Rivers,
Can,
Ultimate Spinach,
Throbbing Gristle,
Terrestrial Tones,
Patti Smith,
X-Ray Spex,
Scientists,
Soul II Soul,
Malaria!,
Japan,
Pantaleimon,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Piero Umiliani,
Maleditus Sound,
Mad Mike,
Rosa Yemen,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
The Dirtbombs,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
UT,
Terry Callier,
Eve St. Jones,
Harmonia,
Moebius,
Von Mondo,
Underground Resistance,
Slave,
Sex Pistols,
The Offenders,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Surgeon,
Anakelly,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Motorama,
Matthew Halsall,
The J.B.'s,
Davy DMX,
June of 44,
MDC,
Rufus Thomas,
Agitation Free,
Pere Ubu,
Rites of Spring,
Josef K,
Jacob Miller,
Maurizio,
Oneida,
Electric Prunes,
48th St. Collective,
Gregory Isaacs,
Sonny Sharrock,
The Cramps,
Basic Channel, Basic Channel, Basic Channel, Basic Channel.
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.