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 Senegal and from Delhi.
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 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tehran and Manila.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Winnipeg 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 1971 at the first Neu! practice in a loft in Düsseldorf.
I was working on the guitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 The Sisters of Mercy to the grime 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 Ronnie Foster. All the underground hits.
All Pagans tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Joy Division record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a 808 and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Warren Ellis record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
E-Dancer,
Fela Kuti,
Lucky Dragons,
the Human League,
Fat Boys,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
The Cure,
The Blues Magoos,
The Saints,
Grauzone,
Jawbox,
Erasure,
Camberwell Now,
Popol Vuh,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Pantaleimon,
The Invisible,
Rufus Thomas,
Bauhaus,
Underground Resistance,
John Cale,
Animal Collective,
Malaria!,
Marc Almond,
Ituana,
U.S. Maple,
X-Ray Spex,
Amon Düül II,
The Standells,
X-101,
Joe Finger,
Young Marble Giants,
Laurel Aitken,
Scion,
Infiniti,
Drexciya,
Swell Maps,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Rapeman,
Jandek,
Lungfish,
Joey Negro,
Gichy Dan,
Tim Buckley,
Matthew Halsall,
Mary Jane Girls,
Zero Boys,
Quando Quango,
Wire,
Spoonie Gee,
Easy Going,
Ronnie Foster,
Sarah Menescal,
UT,
Metal Thangz,
Prince Buster,
the Bar-Kays,
Youth Brigade,
KRS-One,
Rites of Spring,
The Last Poets,
R.M.O., R.M.O., R.M.O., R.M.O..
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.