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 Mozambique and from Cairo.
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 1964 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bremen and Jakarta.
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 1968 at the first Can practice in a loft in Cologne.
I was working on the chamberlin 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 Kenny Larkin to the rock 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 The Barracudas. All the underground hits.
All Flipper tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Dark Day record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a mellotron and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Nation of Ulysses record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Bootsy Collins,
Gang Green,
The Mojo Men,
Severed Heads,
Barclay James Harvest,
Minnie Riperton,
Loose Ends,
Soft Cell,
Organ,
Technova,
Zapp,
The Young Rascals,
Lou Christie,
The Electric Prunes,
Arcadia,
Jeff Mills,
The Names,
Radiopuhelimet,
Tubeway Army,
Neil Young,
Joensuu 1685,
Second Layer,
The Mummies,
Cheater Slicks,
Gastr Del Sol,
Q65,
Hardrive,
Gregory Isaacs,
Alton Ellis,
Soul Sonic Force,
The Cowsills,
Babytalk,
H. Thieme,
Hasil Adkins,
Dave Gahan,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
cv313,
The Walker Brothers,
Dorothy Ashby,
Young Marble Giants,
Flash Fearless,
Silicon Teens,
Deepchord,
The Slits,
Soft Machine,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Deakin,
Deadbeat,
the Slits,
The Black Dice,
Flamin' Groovies,
The Martian,
The Grass Roots,
Sight & Sound,
One Last Wish,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
Joe Smooth,
Make Up,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
The Raincoats,
Q and Not U,
Hashim, Hashim, Hashim, Hashim.
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.