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 El Salvador and from Glasgow.
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 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Jakarta and Paris.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 oboe 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 Radiohead to the jazz kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Section 25. All the underground hits.
All Rotary Connection tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Wally Richardson record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk 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 spring reverb and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Magazine record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Harpers Bizarre,
Lightning Bolt,
The Saints,
Gabor Szabo,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Eric Copeland,
Aural Exciters,
Howard Jones,
The Smoke,
Bobby Sherman,
Crispy Ambulance,
Robert Hood,
the Sonics,
Circle Jerks,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Pole,
Suburban Knight,
The Golliwogs,
Mars,
Talk Talk,
Letta Mbulu,
Audionom,
Ronnie Foster,
Mark Hollis,
Dual Sessions,
10cc,
Con Funk Shun,
The Durutti Column,
Underground Resistance,
Jandek,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Youth Brigade,
Duran Duran,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Rod Modell,
Spoonie Gee,
Mad Mike,
FM Einheit,
Harry Pussy,
Negative Approach,
Idris Muhammad,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
the Germs,
Main Source,
The Star Department,
Ornette Coleman,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Derrick Morgan,
Sex Pistols,
Yellowson,
The Mummies,
Lee Hazlewood,
The J.B.'s,
Nick Fraelich,
Royal Trux,
The Gories,
Scott Walker,
Pierre Henry, Pierre Henry, Pierre Henry, Pierre Henry.
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.