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 Latvia and from Hong Kong.
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 Tehran and Toronto.
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 Robert Palmer 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 Scrapy to the dance kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Patti Smith. All the underground hits.
All Jesper Dahlback tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Deadbeat 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an organ and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Chris & Cosey record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Accadde A,
Isaac Hayes,
The Birthday Party,
Flipper,
The Dave Clark Five,
The Red Krayola,
Minnie Riperton,
LL Cool J,
The Invisible,
The Slackers,
Guru Guru,
The United States of America,
Bizarre Inc.,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
The Trojans,
48th St. Collective,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
JFA,
The Fall,
Ossler,
The Doors,
a-ha,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Boz Scaggs,
Echospace,
Jeff Lynne,
Godley & Creme,
Blake Baxter,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Barclay James Harvest,
Gang Gang Dance,
Magma,
Dual Sessions,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Rod Modell,
Lalo Schifrin,
The Fugs,
Joensuu 1685,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
The Detroit Cobras,
The Electric Prunes,
Porter Ricks,
The Count Five,
The Selecter,
Section 25,
B.T. Express,
Be Bop Deluxe,
R.M.O.,
Royal Trux,
the Swans,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Pussy Galore,
World's Most,
Von Mondo,
Motorama,
Bobby Sherman,
Kurtis Blow,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Malaria!,
Visage,
Shoche, Shoche, Shoche, Shoche.
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.