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 Lucia and from Johannesburg.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Neu! show in Düsseldorf.
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 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Paris and Woodstock.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Copenhagen 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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the theremin 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 Can to the funk kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Minnie Riperton. All the underground hits.
All Joyce Sims tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every the Slits record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Star Department record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Bronski Beat,
Godley & Creme,
Agitation Free,
Ossler,
Suburban Knight,
James White and The Blacks,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Lower 48,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Minor Threat,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
The Zeros,
Amon Düül II,
Adolescents,
Sixth Finger,
The Sonics,
Piero Umiliani,
Tim Buckley,
T. Rex,
X-Ray Spex,
Faraquet,
Second Layer,
Sun Ra,
Reuben Wilson,
Gastr Del Sol,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Pharoah Sanders,
Lakeside,
The Residents,
Talk Talk,
Bootsy Collins,
Spoonie Gee,
Severed Heads,
Matthew Bourne,
Terrestrial Tones,
Wolf Eyes,
Maurizio,
Mars,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
The Saints,
Barclay James Harvest,
Alice Coltrane,
The Velvet Underground,
The Motions,
Angry Samoans,
Byron Stingily,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
The Buckinghams,
F. McDonald,
Althea and Donna,
Inner City,
L. Decosne,
Lou Christie,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Mantronix,
Neu!,
Alton Ellis,
The Shadows of Knight,
Qualms,
Brick, Brick, Brick, Brick.
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.