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 Samoa and from Halifax.
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 1961 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bremen and Philadelphia.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Edmonton 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 1968 at the first Can practice in a loft in Cologne.
I was working on the guitar 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 Half Japanese to the grime kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Johnny Osbourne. All the underground hits.
All Pylon tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Dawn Penn record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance 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 a guitar and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Monks 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?
The Cowsills,
The Saints,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Jacob Miller,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Cheater Slicks,
Average White Band,
Soul II Soul,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Wasted Youth,
John Holt,
Royal Trux,
the Swans,
Unwound,
Basic Channel,
Reuben Wilson,
Bizarre Inc.,
The Young Rascals,
The Barracudas,
Wally Richardson,
Rhythm & Sound,
The Detroit Cobras,
Swell Maps,
The Dirtbombs,
The New Christs,
Crooked Eye,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Con Funk Shun,
Tom Boy,
Jeff Lynne,
Pussy Galore,
Vladislav Delay,
Gang Gang Dance,
Television,
Hoover,
Youth Brigade,
The Alarm Clocks,
Glenn Branca,
Nils Olav,
Soft Cell,
Oneida,
Angry Samoans,
Black Pus,
Pantaleimon,
Desert Stars,
DJ Sneak,
Qualms,
Cymande,
Intrusion,
Johnny Osbourne,
Echospace,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
The Skatalites,
These Immortal Souls,
The Shadows of Knight,
Negative Approach,
Eric Dolphy,
Cluster,
L. Decosne, L. Decosne, L. Decosne, L. Decosne.
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.