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 Namibia and from Johannesburg.
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 1960 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bologna and Taipei.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Stockholm 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 oboe sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud to the techno 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 The Slits. All the underground hits.
All Alton Ellis tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Smiths record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco 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 marimba and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Joy Division record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin 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 Evens,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Sällskapet,
Babytalk,
Jeff Lynne,
Camberwell Now,
8 Eyed Spy,
X-Ray Spex,
Motorama,
Stereo Dub,
Dual Sessions,
Tears for Fears,
Faraquet,
Schoolly D,
Jandek,
Kurtis Blow,
Simply Red,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Ultra Naté,
Hot Snakes,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Chris Corsano,
Yazoo,
Scott Walker,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
The Vogues,
Eve St. Jones,
Popol Vuh,
Ossler,
Amazonics,
Sparks,
Minny Pops,
Terrestrial Tones,
New York Dolls,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Spandau Ballet,
Roxette,
Prince Buster,
Rod Modell,
Davy DMX,
Excepter,
Henry Cow,
Wings,
The Mojo Men,
Funky Four + One,
Saccharine Trust,
Parry Music,
Inner City,
the Association,
the Swans,
Banda Bassotti,
Surgeon,
the Sonics,
Maleditus Sound,
Ludus,
Pantaleimon,
The Monks,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
The Last Poets,
The Martian,
Pagans,
The Monochrome Set,
Matthew Bourne, Matthew Bourne, Matthew Bourne, Matthew Bourne.
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.