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 Dominican Republic and from London.
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 1969 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tokyo and Manila.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Delhi 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 harpsichord sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme to the rock kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Remains. All the underground hits.
All Heavy D & The Boyz tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every X-Ray Spex record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a snare and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Arcadia record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Darondo,
Neu!,
June Days,
Andrew Hill,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Swans,
cv313,
The Detroit Cobras,
Kayak,
Todd Terry,
David Axelrod,
The Pretty Things,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Pole,
Johnny Osbourne,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
The Stooges,
The Seeds,
Lindisfarne,
Drexciya,
Ralphi Rosario,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Prince Buster,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Arthur Verocai,
Delta 5,
The Real Kids,
A Certain Ratio,
The Neon Judgement,
Quadrant,
Flipper,
The Human League,
Yusef Lateef,
Judy Mowatt,
The Mummies,
the Sonics,
Kenny Larkin,
The Modern Lovers,
Audionom,
JFA,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Connie Case,
the Normal,
The Gun Club,
The Dead C,
Japan,
The Fugs,
In Retrospect,
Main Source,
Nation of Ulysses,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Scientists,
Jandek,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Throbbing Gristle,
Nico,
H. Thieme,
Nik Kershaw,
MDC,
Slick Rick, Slick Rick, Slick Rick, Slick Rick.
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.