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 Libya and from Madrid.
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 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Calgary and Bremen.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Mumbai 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 Donald Fagen 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 Mantronix to the punk kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson. All the underground hits.
All ABC tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every New Age Steppers 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a mellotron and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Hasil Adkins record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Real Kids,
Youth Brigade,
Nas,
The Blues Magoos,
Ultra Naté,
Average White Band,
Mandrill,
Metal Thangz,
Bobby Hutcherson,
The Fugs,
Mo-Dettes,
The Pretty Things,
Bobby Byrd,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Barrington Levy,
Anthony Braxton,
Harmonia,
Liliput,
Crime,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Mars,
Suicide,
Shuggie Otis,
Excepter,
Soft Machine,
Boredoms,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Erykah Badu,
Technova,
MDC,
Goldenarms,
Eyeless In Gaza,
X-Ray Spex,
Rufus Thomas,
Von Mondo,
The Mummies,
John Holt,
Heaven 17,
Man Parrish,
Arab on Radar,
Funkadelic,
Johnny Clarke,
Tropical Tobacco,
Silicon Teens,
B.T. Express,
Eric B and Rakim,
Lightning Bolt,
Gang Green,
The Residents,
Model 500,
Alton Ellis,
Dave Gahan,
Max Romeo,
Motorama,
The Sonics,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Trumans Water,
Ultravox,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx, Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx, Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx, Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx.
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.