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 Kazakhstan and from Delhi.
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 1969 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in New York and Paris.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Spokane 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 clarinet 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 Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam to the rap 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 Peter & Gordon. All the underground hits.
All the Soft Cell tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Jeff Mills 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 '90s.
I hear you're buying a 808 and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Letta Mbulu record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Stooges,
Aswad,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Infiniti,
The Detroit Cobras,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Pet Shop Boys,
Drexciya,
Slick Rick,
The Trojans,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Pantytec,
Arab on Radar,
Amon Düül,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Black Bananas,
Boredoms,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Sun Ra,
Glenn Branca,
Cameo,
Dark Day,
Boogie Down Productions,
Alice Coltrane,
10cc,
AZ,
Dave Gahan,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Oblivians,
Kerrie Biddell,
The Buckinghams,
Ohio Players,
Alison Limerick,
Frankie Knuckles,
John Cale,
Ultimate Spinach,
The Last Poets,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Lalo Schifrin,
Con Funk Shun,
Moss Icon,
Sugar Minott,
David McCallum,
Dorothy Ashby,
Nirvana,
Black Pus,
Man Parrish,
Hashim,
Thompson Twins,
Kenny Larkin,
Harpers Bizarre,
Eve St. Jones,
The Skatalites,
Basic Channel,
Joey Negro,
Howard Jones,
Girls At Our Best!,
Deepchord,
Thee Headcoats,
Scott Walker, Scott Walker, Scott Walker, Scott Walker.
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.