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 Africa and from Calgary.
But I was there.
I was there in 1967.
I was there at the first Rodriguez show in Detroit.
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 1969 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mexico City and Mumbai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manila 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 chamberlin 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 Newcleus to the grime kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Echospace. All the underground hits.
All Pere Ubu tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every James Chance & The Contortions 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Funky Four + One record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Banda Bassotti,
Electric Prunes,
Scion,
Bootsy Collins,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Sarah Menescal,
Grandmaster Flash,
Gang Starr,
Basic Channel,
Radio Birdman,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
a-ha,
Pierre Henry,
Amon Düül II,
Warren Ellis,
The Fugs,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Little Man,
Jacques Brel,
Radiohead,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Terry Callier,
Lalo Schifrin,
Cybotron,
Suburban Knight,
Blancmange,
Yellowson,
These Immortal Souls,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
The Knickerbockers,
Steve Hackett,
Y Pants,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Television,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
DNA,
Vladislav Delay,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Reagan Youth,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
The Monks,
Lower 48,
The Leaves,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Magazine,
Sugar Minott,
Lungfish,
Thompson Twins,
Easy Going,
Amazonics,
Matthew Halsall,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
CMW,
Bob Dylan,
Panda Bear,
Lindisfarne,
The Busters,
Lakeside,
The Smiths,
Barbara Tucker,
Wally Richardson,
Supertramp, Supertramp, Supertramp, Supertramp.
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.