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 Guinea and from Toronto.
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 1961 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Woodstock and Sao Paulo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Milan 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 theremin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Echospace to the dance kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Au Pairs. All the underground hits.
All Jerry Gold Smith tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Patti Smith 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a chamberlin and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Soul Sonic Force record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Delon & Dalcan,
Vladislav Delay,
the Swans,
Los Fastidios,
Joey Negro,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Outsiders,
Pole,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Marmalade,
Lebanon Hanover,
Godley & Creme,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Little Man,
Scratch Acid,
The Human League,
Sugar Minott,
Joe Smooth,
Tim Buckley,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Josef K,
The Detroit Cobras,
Ralphi Rosario,
Circle Jerks,
Barclay James Harvest,
Kerri Chandler,
The Skatalites,
Erykah Badu,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
The Mummies,
The Happenings,
Procol Harum,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
The Evens,
The Slackers,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Dual Sessions,
Schoolly D,
Popol Vuh,
Cheater Slicks,
The Misunderstood,
Saccharine Trust,
Sound Behaviour,
Pierre Henry,
Minnie Riperton,
Sarah Menescal,
The Velvet Underground,
EPMD,
Cameo,
Mantronix,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Soft Machine,
Jacques Brel,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Roger Hodgson,
Black Sheep,
Crime,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
T.S.O.L.,
Carl Craig, Carl Craig, Carl Craig, Carl Craig.
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.