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 Barbados and from Lille.
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 1965 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bologna and Mexico City.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school New York 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 harpsichord sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Los Fastidios to the grunge kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Alton Ellis. All the underground hits.
All Althea and Donna tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Last Poets 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Index record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Chrome,
Erasure,
Dawn Penn,
Nik Kershaw,
Moby Grape,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
The Grass Roots,
Mr. Review,
Faust,
Unwound,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Ronan,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Drive Like Jehu,
Neu!,
Nico,
Wasted Youth,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Bobby Byrd,
Jeff Mills,
Interpol,
UT,
Rufus Thomas,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
The Divine Comedy,
the Fania All-Stars,
Rapeman,
James Chance & The Contortions,
James White and The Blacks,
Ornette Coleman,
Wings,
Yaz,
Circle Jerks,
Gang Green,
Quando Quango,
Chris & Cosey,
Brand Nubian,
Royal Trux,
Q and Not U,
Lightning Bolt,
Robert Wyatt,
Mad Mike,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Charles Mingus,
The Pretty Things,
Henry Cow,
Bang On A Can,
Dark Day,
Public Image Ltd.,
Rhythm & Sound,
The Count Five,
Rosa Yemen,
a-ha,
Excepter,
Swans,
The Monochrome Set,
The Velvet Underground,
Thee Headcoats,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Clear Light,
Todd Terry,
the Human League,
Adolescents,
Gichy Dan, Gichy Dan, Gichy Dan, Gichy Dan.
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.