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 Tonga and from Tehran.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Neu! show in Düsseldorf.
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 1963 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Delhi and Seoul.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Johannesburg 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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the oboe sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 a-ha to the punk 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 Swell Maps. All the underground hits.
All X-101 tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Crispy Ambulance record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno 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 808 and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Davy DMX record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Jeff Lynne,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Marine Girls,
Ponytail,
Bluetip,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
The Grass Roots,
Nico,
Matthew Halsall,
Joyce Sims,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Hashim,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Lindisfarne,
The Gap Band,
David McCallum,
Siglo XX,
Marshall Jefferson,
Black Flag,
Robert Wyatt,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
The Slits,
Marmalade,
Black Sheep,
A Certain Ratio,
Fluxion,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Scion,
Girls At Our Best!,
The Sisters of Mercy,
The Fire Engines,
the Swans,
Cybotron,
Scratch Acid,
Wire,
AZ,
Kayak,
Ludus,
Ohio Players,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
JFA,
Surgeon,
Funky Four + One,
Gang Starr,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
David Bowie,
Sun City Girls,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
D'Angelo,
The Names,
The Buckinghams,
Japan,
Hot Snakes,
Ronnie Foster,
Monks,
The Toasters,
Michelle Simonal,
Scott Walker,
Nik Kershaw,
Don Cherry,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Jacques Brel, Jacques Brel, Jacques Brel, Jacques Brel.
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.