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 South Sudan and from Winnipeg.
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 1964 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Copenhagen and Bologna.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Milan 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 Lou Reed 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 Selector Dub Narcotic to the electroclash kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme. All the underground hits.
All Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Kinks 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 theremin and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Livin' Joy record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Wire,
Godley & Creme,
Bluetip,
Crooked Eye,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
48th St. Collective,
Morten Harket,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Spoonie Gee,
Kaleidoscope,
Aaron Thompson,
John Coltrane,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
The Golliwogs,
Soulsonic Force,
Saccharine Trust,
The Vogues,
The Dave Clark Five,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
E-Dancer,
Peter and Kerry,
The Young Rascals,
Moby Grape,
Lou Christie,
Easy Going,
Bobby Womack,
The Saints,
The Monochrome Set,
The Slackers,
Radiopuhelimet,
Robert Görl,
Angry Samoans,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Jacques Brel,
The Moleskins,
New York Dolls,
Josef K,
Black Flag,
Mad Mike,
Vainqueur,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Davy DMX,
The Smiths,
Au Pairs,
Nick Fraelich,
Bobby Byrd,
Cameo,
Livin' Joy,
The Skatalites,
Infiniti,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Organ,
The Dirtbombs,
The United States of America,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Oblivians,
Steve Hackett,
The Cowsills,
Mo-Dettes,
La Düsseldorf,
Guru Guru,
Bobby Sherman,
Deepchord,
The Gladiators, The Gladiators, The Gladiators, The Gladiators.
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.