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 Russia and from Lagos.
But I was there.
I was there in 1968.
I was there at the first Can show in Cologne.
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 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Woodstock and Glasgow.
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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the 808 sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Freddie Wadling to the techno 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 Althea and Donna. All the underground hits.
All Erykah Badu tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every John Holt record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Sight & Sound record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Hashim,
Monolake,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Scan 7,
LL Cool J,
Johnny Clarke,
the Normal,
Magazine,
Roger Hodgson,
Cameo,
Thee Headcoats,
Joensuu 1685,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Popol Vuh,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Minor Threat,
Kas Product,
Alphaville,
Oneida,
Joy Division,
Faust,
Suicide,
Terry Callier,
Newcleus,
Ludus,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Arthur Verocai,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
MC5,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Masters at Work,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Rod Modell,
Girls At Our Best!,
The Saints,
Quando Quango,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
The Gladiators,
Wire,
Todd Rundgren,
Simply Red,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Gong,
Marcia Griffiths,
Subhumans,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Pierre Henry,
Bob Dylan,
The New Christs,
Qualms,
T. Rex,
Sun City Girls,
JFA,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Skaos,
Bootsy Collins,
Warsaw,
Cluster,
The Gun Club, The Gun Club, The Gun Club, The Gun Club.
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.