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 Ghana and from Shanghai.
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 1966 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Portland and Bologna.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Woodstock 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 snare 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 Bronski Beat to the grunge 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 Rites of Spring. All the underground hits.
All Bobby Hutcherson tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every John Cale record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Amazonics record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Eurythmics,
Brothers Johnson,
Parry Music,
The Dirtbombs,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Peter and Kerry,
Piero Umiliani,
Blake Baxter,
Minnie Riperton,
Grey Daturas,
Kerrie Biddell,
Bang On A Can,
Nas,
Nirvana,
Bobby Womack,
The Dave Clark Five,
Joyce Sims,
Goldenarms,
Public Image Ltd.,
Swans,
Ornette Coleman,
Isaac Hayes,
The Birthday Party,
Zapp,
Archie Shepp,
The Alarm Clocks,
Make Up,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Glambeats Corp.,
Infiniti,
Theoretical Girls,
The Stooges,
Joey Negro,
Pylon,
The Star Department,
Donald Byrd,
Spoonie Gee,
Wolf Eyes,
Janne Schatter,
Inner City,
the Bar-Kays,
Tubeway Army,
Quantec,
Hasil Adkins,
The Cramps,
Aswad,
New Age Steppers,
The American Breed,
Susan Cadogan,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Loose Ends,
Lakeside,
Crispian St. Peters,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Zero Boys,
Erasure,
Bill Wells, Bill Wells, Bill Wells, Bill Wells.
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.