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 Iraq and from Milan.
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 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in New York and Philadelphia.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 spring reverb 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 Blake Baxter to the electroclash 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 Marine Girls. All the underground hits.
All The Smiths tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every LL Cool J record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a 808 and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a E-Dancer record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Jerry's Kids,
Colin Newman,
Aloha Tigers,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Letta Mbulu,
Throbbing Gristle,
Grandmaster Flash,
Visage,
In Retrospect,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Jeff Lynne,
The Cure,
The Seeds,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Sugar Minott,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Tears for Fears,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Toni Rubio,
The Evens,
Sparks,
Subhumans,
Clear Light,
Fatback Band,
Avey Tare,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Depeche Mode,
Funky Four + One,
Hot Snakes,
Albert Ayler,
Crispy Ambulance,
Amazonics,
Con Funk Shun,
Kool Moe Dee,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Deadbeat,
Jeff Mills,
LL Cool J,
Glambeats Corp.,
Warsaw,
Roy Ayers,
Sun Ra,
Cybotron,
Shuggie Otis,
Sam Rivers,
F. McDonald,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Camron Feat. Jay Z And Juelz,
Pantytec,
Barrington Levy,
Gastr Del Sol,
Josef K,
Bizarre Inc.,
James White and The Blacks,
Janne Schatter,
Derrick May,
Qualms,
A Certain Ratio,
Main Source,
Monks,
The Alarm Clocks, The Alarm Clocks, The Alarm Clocks, The Alarm Clocks.
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.