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 Congo 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 1962 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Shanghai and Sao Paulo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Hong Kong 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 marimba sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Crime to the punk kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Flipper. All the underground hits.
All Vaughan Mason & Crew tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Skatalites record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a 808 and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Janne Schatter record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Sly & The Family Stone,
MC5,
E-Dancer,
Minnie Riperton,
Echospace,
Crispian St. Peters,
The Fugs,
Malaria!,
Ornette Coleman,
Cybotron,
The Grass Roots,
Drexciya,
Delta 5,
The Divine Comedy,
Suburban Knight,
Blake Baxter,
Mr. Review,
Rakim,
UT,
June of 44,
Mandrill,
Monolake,
The Cure,
The Selecter,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Kool Moe Dee,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Bill Near,
Davy DMX,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
The Slackers,
The New Christs,
Lou Reed,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
EPMD,
Lungfish,
Reuben Wilson,
Radiohead,
B.T. Express,
Bobby Sherman,
The Last Poets,
The Searchers,
Pussy Galore,
Absolute Body Control,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
The Standells,
the Normal,
Tommy Roe,
Severed Heads,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Sarah Menescal,
Monks,
Rotary Connection,
Shoche,
Flamin' Groovies,
Metal Thangz,
Shuggie Otis,
Los Fastidios,
Letta Mbulu,
Nation of Ulysses,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Sister Nancy, Sister Nancy, Sister Nancy, Sister Nancy.
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.