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 Sri Lanka and from Mumbai.
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 1965 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Columbus and Bologna.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 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 Liliput to the techno 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 The Angels of Light. All the underground hits.
All Slave tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Sister Nancy record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Vainqueur record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Joy Division,
Soft Machine,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Flash Fearless,
Tommy Roe,
Terry Callier,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Ponytail,
The Offenders,
Public Enemy,
Graham Central Station,
Arthur Verocai,
Tres Demented,
PIL,
One Last Wish,
Lakeside,
Can,
Susan Cadogan,
The Residents,
Todd Terry,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Saccharine Trust,
Warsaw,
Spandau Ballet,
Bang On A Can,
DJ Style,
Echospace,
The Young Rascals,
Outsiders,
Theoretical Girls,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
The Busters,
Nils Olav,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Pere Ubu,
Erykah Badu,
Kerri Chandler,
Grandmaster Flash,
Motorama,
Nik Kershaw,
Erasure,
Gang Gang Dance,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
David Axelrod,
Wings,
Angry Samoans,
Jacques Brel,
Moby Grape,
Gang Starr,
Buzzcocks,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Rites of Spring,
Icehouse,
kango's stein massive,
Jeff Mills, Jeff Mills, Jeff Mills, Jeff Mills.
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.