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 Belarus and from Mexico City.
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 1968 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Stockholm and Manila.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Glasgow 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 1968 at the first Can practice in a loft in Cologne.
I was working on the snare sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Magazine to the grunge 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 Fela Kuti. All the underground hits.
All Throbbing Gristle tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Soul II Soul 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Donald Byrd record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Das Ding,
Nico,
These Immortal Souls,
Unwound,
Gang of Four,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Nils Olav,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Judy Mowatt,
James White and The Blacks,
Pet Shop Boys,
Dorothy Ashby,
Anthony Braxton,
Soul Sonic Force,
Second Layer,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
AZ,
the Association,
Soul II Soul,
Camberwell Now,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Warren Ellis,
This Heat,
John Cale,
Heaven 17,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
MC5,
Jeff Lynne,
Toni Rubio,
Altered Images,
The Associates,
Nirvana,
David Bowie,
Circle Jerks,
Smog,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Public Enemy,
Masters at Work,
Throbbing Gristle,
Ultimate Spinach,
Eurythmics,
Patti Smith,
Man Parrish,
Harmonia,
H. Thieme,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Symarip,
Groovy Waters,
Dawn Penn,
Jacob Miller,
The Slits,
T.S.O.L.,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Drexciya,
The Shadows of Knight,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
OOIOO,
Theoretical Girls,
Roxy Music,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Buzzcocks,
The Cure, The Cure, The Cure, The Cure.
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.