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 Mauritania and from Spokane.
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 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bremen and Cairo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Seoul 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 synthesizer 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 Patti Smith to the disco kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Gil Scott Heron. All the underground hits.
All The Fortunes tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Severed Heads record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Dennis Brown record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Bauhaus,
Fatback Band,
the Bar-Kays,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
the Swans,
Gang Green,
Nick Fraelich,
Kerrie Biddell,
Niagra,
Massinfluence,
Lou Christie,
Desert Stars,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
the Association,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
The Offenders,
Matthew Bourne,
the Normal,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Tears for Fears,
The Mummies,
Mars,
Kevin Saunderson,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Erasure,
Pantytec,
The Gap Band,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
New Age Steppers,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
the Human League,
Unwound,
Kerri Chandler,
Mo-Dettes,
Monolake,
a-ha,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Depeche Mode,
The Index,
Babytalk,
Tropical Tobacco,
the Sonics,
Intrusion,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Silicon Teens,
Sound Behaviour,
The Detroit Cobras,
Soul Sonic Force,
Lou Reed,
Prince Buster,
Howard Jones,
Max Romeo,
Guru Guru,
Negative Approach,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Joensuu 1685,
Barbara Tucker,
Moby Grape,
Oneida,
Rites of Spring, Rites of Spring, Rites of Spring, Rites of Spring.
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.