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 Saudi Arabia and from Houston.
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 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Salvador and Taipei.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lyon 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 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 Urselle to the dance kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Standells. All the underground hits.
All Sun Ra tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Dead C record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a 808 and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Sound Behaviour record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare 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?
Reuben Wilson,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
In Retrospect,
The Neon Judgement,
Subhumans,
The Misunderstood,
The Blackbyrds,
Heaven 17,
Soul II Soul,
Wally Richardson,
New York Dolls,
Judy Mowatt,
Barbara Tucker,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Black Flag,
Intrusion,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
The Young Rascals,
Talk Talk,
Bobby Womack,
The United States of America,
Crispian St. Peters,
The Knickerbockers,
Brick,
Joyce Sims,
The Divine Comedy,
One Last Wish,
Ludus,
Gang of Four,
The Victims,
CMW,
Shuggie Otis,
Amon Düül II,
Pantaleimon,
Dennis Brown,
These Immortal Souls,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Robert Görl,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Matthew Halsall,
The Buckinghams,
Suburban Knight,
Terry Callier,
Das Ding,
the Bar-Kays,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
8 Eyed Spy,
Ten City,
Radio Birdman,
Moebius,
Ultra Naté,
Excepter,
Soft Machine,
Mo-Dettes,
Man Eating Sloth,
Outsiders,
Marmalade,
The Pretty Things,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Gabor Szabo,
Scrapy,
Danielle Patucci,
Swell Maps, Swell Maps, Swell Maps, Swell Maps.
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.