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 Vietnam and from Columbus.
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 1967 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Cairo and Taipei.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Houston 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 arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 John Coltrane to the funk 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 Soul II Soul. All the underground hits.
All Unrelated Segments tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Skarface record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk 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 spring reverb and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Frankie Knuckles record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a spring reverb.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Fire Engines,
the Soft Cell,
Sarah Menescal,
Terry Callier,
Soulsonic Force,
FM Einheit,
Quantec,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
The Techniques,
Nils Olav,
Wolf Eyes,
Panda Bear,
Talk Talk,
the Association,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Aswad,
Chris & Cosey,
Sunsets and Hearts,
The Leaves,
Johnny Clarke,
Dennis Brown,
Roxy Music,
The Human League,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Connie Case,
B.T. Express,
Aaron Thompson,
June of 44,
The J.B.'s,
Man Eating Sloth,
Anthony Braxton,
8 Eyed Spy,
The Monochrome Set,
Silicon Teens,
The Neon Judgement,
John Lydon,
The Fuzztones,
Rakim,
The Golliwogs,
Sugar Minott,
Joensuu 1685,
The Stooges,
Kurtis Blow,
Brand Nubian,
Dorothy Ashby,
Fugazi,
Radiohead,
Avey Tare,
Television,
The Martian,
Harmonia,
Boz Scaggs,
Boredoms,
10cc,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Can,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
The Alarm Clocks,
Negative Approach, Negative Approach, Negative Approach, Negative Approach.
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.