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 Vanuatu and from Hong Kong.
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 1967 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Glasgow and Edmonton.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Beijing 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 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 Pantytec to the jazz 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 Peanut Butter Conspiracy. All the underground hits.
All New York Dolls tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Traffic Nightmare 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Fire Engines record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a linndrum.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Rekid,
Alton Ellis,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Skarface,
Gichy Dan,
Lyres,
Babytalk,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Rosa Yemen,
Bronski Beat,
Laurel Aitken,
Kool Moe Dee,
Wings,
Glambeats Corp.,
Cluster,
The Toasters,
Gang Gang Dance,
Roxette,
Goldenarms,
Johnny Clarke,
Underground Resistance,
Matthew Bourne,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
The Cure,
The Associates,
Japan,
The Cowsills,
Crime,
Slick Rick,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Delta 5,
The Flesh Eaters,
Jimmy McGriff,
Scientists,
Anakelly,
a-ha,
Slave,
Bobby Hutcherson,
The Velvet Underground,
The Fuzztones,
Infiniti,
James White and The Blacks,
The Residents,
Ralphi Rosario,
The Martian,
The Monks,
Bill Wells,
The Tremeloes,
Prince Buster,
The Golliwogs,
Parry Music,
Adolescents,
Camron Feat. Memphis Bleek And Beenie Seigel,
Matthew Halsall,
The Alarm Clocks,
Dawn Penn,
Mo-Dettes,
Can,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Vainqueur, Vainqueur, Vainqueur, Vainqueur.
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.