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 Guyana and from Edmonton.
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 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Salvador and Lagos.
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 güiro 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 Los Fastidios to the grunge 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 Monks tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Laurel Aitken record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a 808 and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Bobbi Humphrey record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Ash Ra Tempel,
The Golliwogs,
Grandmaster Flash,
Gerry Rafferty,
Icehouse,
Delta 5,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Au Pairs,
Arcadia,
Fat Boys,
Niagra,
Average White Band,
Pere Ubu,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Vainqueur,
Camouflage,
Eric Copeland,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
10cc,
The American Breed,
Tomorrow,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
The Sonics,
L. Decosne,
Fela Kuti,
Animal Collective,
Lower 48,
Tears for Fears,
T.S.O.L.,
The Velvet Underground,
Scientists,
Byron Stingily,
Jandek,
Simply Red,
Crime,
Glambeats Corp.,
cv313,
Cal Tjader,
The Music Machine,
The Remains,
Matthew Halsall,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Faraquet,
OOIOO,
Fifty Foot Hose,
The Wake,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Adolescents,
The Index,
Pharoah Sanders,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Curtis Mayfield,
Barry Ungar,
D'Angelo,
Silicon Teens,
Neil Young,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Traffic Nightmare,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
The Seeds,
Gichy Dan,
Cluster, Cluster, Cluster, Cluster.
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.