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 Slovakia and from Copenhagen.
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 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Glasgow and Stockholm.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Madrid 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 clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Desert Stars to the rock 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 the Slits. All the underground hits.
All The Buckinghams tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Stiv Bators 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 '90s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Bobby Byrd record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
the Association,
David McCallum,
Pet Shop Boys,
X-101,
Khruangbin,
Bob Dylan,
Fluxion,
Curtis Mayfield,
Pylon,
FM Einheit,
Joy Division,
Andrew Hill,
Brick,
Deepchord,
Chrome,
Amon Düül,
Eurythmics,
B.T. Express,
Laurel Aitken,
Half Japanese,
Albert Ayler,
Absolute Body Control,
The Smiths,
June of 44,
Au Pairs,
Marmalade,
Pole,
Public Image Ltd.,
Jeff Mills,
Ossler,
Suicide,
Stetsasonic,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Dawn Penn,
Marine Girls,
LL Cool J,
The Stooges,
The Vogues,
Blossom Toes,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Newcleus,
The Cure,
Liliput,
AZ,
Y Pants,
48th St. Collective,
Erykah Badu,
The Count Five,
Q and Not U,
The Moleskins,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Prince Buster,
Letta Mbulu,
Clear Light,
Aural Exciters,
Nick Fraelich,
Derrick Morgan,
Boz Scaggs,
Oneida,
Deadbeat, Deadbeat, Deadbeat, Deadbeat.
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.