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 Lesotho and from Houston.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Neu! show in Düsseldorf.
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 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Taipei and Mexico City.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the synthesizer sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 MDC to the punk kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Pylon. All the underground hits.
All Vladislav Delay tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Lou Reed record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk 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 rhodes and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Basic Channel record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Grandmaster Flash,
The Searchers,
Chrome,
Public Image Ltd.,
Aaron Thompson,
Archie Shepp,
Jeru the Damaja,
Lower 48,
Ludus,
Lightning Bolt,
Theoretical Girls,
Liliput,
Ponytail,
The Barracudas,
The Residents,
Blancmange,
Drexciya,
Maleditus Sound,
Amon Düül II,
K-Klass,
Brand Nubian,
Animal Collective,
The Alarm Clocks,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Jacob Miller,
Black Pus,
David McCallum,
Kayak,
KRS-One,
Yellowson,
Parry Music,
Mark Hollis,
Pylon,
Ronnie Foster,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Con Funk Shun,
Tomorrow,
the Fania All-Stars,
David Bowie,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
Boogie Down Productions,
Minny Pops,
The Slits,
Dennis Brown,
Jandek,
DNA,
Hashim,
Piero Umiliani,
Visage,
Bill Wells,
Motorama,
Scion,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Shuggie Otis,
Joey Negro,
the Sonics,
Pole,
Eric Copeland,
Barbara Tucker, Barbara Tucker, Barbara Tucker, Barbara Tucker.
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.