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 Dominica and from Woodstock.
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 1960 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Beijing and New York.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 synthesizer sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Adolescents to the grunge kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Cecil Taylor. All the underground hits.
All Drive Like Jehu tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Cheater Slicks 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 '80s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Joyce Sims record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Pretty Things,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
The Buckinghams,
Girls At Our Best!,
Magma,
Eric Dolphy,
Sarah Menescal,
John Cale,
Tom Boy,
Sparks,
Pharoah Sanders,
Banda Bassotti,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Marvin Gaye,
Brothers Johnson,
The Dave Clark Five,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Quadrant,
The Associates,
Jimmy McGriff,
Rotary Connection,
Swell Maps,
Animal Collective,
Glambeats Corp.,
The Dirtbombs,
Gastr Del Sol,
Scrapy,
T. Rex,
The Fire Engines,
Tomorrow,
Chris Corsano,
Joyce Sims,
Archie Shepp,
Marine Girls,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
The Moleskins,
Whodini,
Harpers Bizarre,
Popol Vuh,
Juan Atkins,
The Real Kids,
Nick Fraelich,
Icehouse,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Todd Terry,
Susan Cadogan,
The Mojo Men,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Fear,
Scratch Acid,
World's Most,
The Golliwogs,
Franke,
Marmalade,
Man Parrish,
Camouflage,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Max Romeo,
Terry Callier, Terry Callier, Terry Callier, Terry Callier.
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.