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 Germany 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 1965 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Taipei and Milan.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Columbus 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 Michael McDonald 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 Dark Day to the punk kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Derrick May. All the underground hits.
All Ken Boothe tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Silicon Teens record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Stereo Dub record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Sixth Finger,
Spoonie Gee,
Josef K,
Sexual Harrassment,
Pylon,
Robert Hood,
DJ Sneak,
Marshall Jefferson,
The Raincoats,
The Techniques,
The Fugs,
Scion,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Jawbox,
ABBA,
H. Thieme,
Brothers Johnson,
Letta Mbulu,
FM Einheit,
Duran Duran,
Fad Gadget,
Donald Byrd,
Deadbeat,
Traffic Nightmare,
Sarah Menescal,
The Dirtbombs,
the Sonics,
Danielle Patucci,
Roxy Music,
Wire,
Pantytec,
Intrusion,
The Litter,
Suicide,
John Coltrane,
Bobby Byrd,
X-Ray Spex,
Boogie Down Productions,
Pet Shop Boys,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
Japan,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Shoche,
Rites of Spring,
Severed Heads,
Barclay James Harvest,
Bad Manners,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Kaleidoscope,
the Association,
The Vogues,
Pussy Galore,
Half Japanese,
Roger Hodgson,
The Count Five,
Scott Walker,
Be Bop Deluxe,
The Durutti Column,
Gang Green,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Sällskapet, Sällskapet, Sällskapet, Sällskapet.
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.