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 Mumbai.
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 1968 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Delhi and Winnipeg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Portland 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 güiro sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Albert Ayler to the grime 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 Nirvana. All the underground hits.
All Don Cherry tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Qualms record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash 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 sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Pop Group record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Gang Starr,
Bang On A Can,
Hardrive,
Eve St. Jones,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Brand Nubian,
In Retrospect,
Al Stewart,
The Moody Blues,
Eddi Front,
U.S. Maple,
Ornette Coleman,
Siglo XX,
David Bowie,
Kaleidoscope,
Spandau Ballet,
Panda Bear,
Ludus,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Steve Hackett,
Organ,
Kurtis Blow,
Radiopuhelimet,
Pylon,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Davy DMX,
Rufus Thomas,
The Moleskins,
Leonard Cohen,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
The Sonics,
Jacob Miller,
The Cowsills,
Mr. Review,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
Rotary Connection,
Interpol,
The Stooges,
Funky Four + One,
Traffic Nightmare,
the Germs,
Peter and Kerry,
Faust,
Japan,
Quando Quango,
Joey Negro,
Visage,
Magma,
The Durutti Column,
The Dead C,
Cymande,
ABC,
The Detroit Cobras,
The Smiths,
Dual Sessions,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Gichy Dan,
The Blues Magoos,
The Cure,
T. Rex,
Camouflage,
Television Personalities,
Mandrill,
Marshall Jefferson, Marshall Jefferson, Marshall Jefferson, Marshall Jefferson.
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.