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 Uruguay and from Tehran.
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 1961 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tokyo and Milan.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Bremen 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 guitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Junior Murvin to the rap kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 June Days. All the underground hits.
All Soul II Soul tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Mary Jane Girls record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Eden Ahbez record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Pierre Henry,
Motorama,
Black Sheep,
Marshall Jefferson,
Fluxion,
Barclay James Harvest,
Funky Four + One,
Gang Starr,
The Detroit Cobras,
Flipper,
Colin Newman,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Mandrill,
Panda Bear,
Tim Buckley,
Lee Hazlewood,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Severed Heads,
Hardrive,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
John Holt,
The Martian,
Harmonia,
Spoonie Gee,
Rotary Connection,
Theoretical Girls,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
The Litter,
Cabaret Voltaire,
The Kinks,
Pagans,
Monolake,
Crooked Eye,
Vainqueur,
Quantec,
Don Cherry,
Thee Headcoats,
Kenny Larkin,
The Toasters,
Archie Shepp,
Minny Pops,
Drive Like Jehu,
James White and The Blacks,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Suburban Knight,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
FM Einheit,
Deepchord,
This Heat,
The Monks,
Sandy B,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
Bush Tetras,
Lindisfarne,
Peter and Kerry,
Hashim,
Ultra Naté,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Rakim,
Warren Ellis, Warren Ellis, Warren Ellis, Warren Ellis.
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.