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 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 1968 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Jakarta and Portland.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Milan 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 guitar 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 The Five Americans to the punk kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Sonics. All the underground hits.
All The Mummies tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Reuben Wilson record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk 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 marimba and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Oblivians record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a spring reverb.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
World's Most,
Erykah Badu,
Kas Product,
Jacob Miller,
Scientists,
Traffic Nightmare,
Pere Ubu,
The Zeros,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Eddi Front,
a-ha,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
The Index,
James White and The Blacks,
The Last Poets,
Pantytec,
John Lydon,
Wire,
X-102,
Fad Gadget,
Joy Division,
Glenn Branca,
Bill Near,
Soulsonic Force,
Yazoo,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Television Personalities,
8 Eyed Spy,
Alice Coltrane,
Skriet,
Lyres,
Bluetip,
Nico,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Barrington Levy,
Bobby Sherman,
Inner City,
Bootsy Collins,
The Busters,
Radio Birdman,
Moby Grape,
The Red Krayola,
David Bowie,
Glambeats Corp.,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
T.S.O.L.,
Section 25,
Siglo XX,
Boz Scaggs,
Mandrill,
Tomorrow,
the Soft Cell,
Tears for Fears,
Saccharine Trust,
Sällskapet,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Brand Nubian,
The Saints,
Surgeon, Surgeon, Surgeon, Surgeon.
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.