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 Serbia and from Mexico City.
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 1962 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manila and Lille.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Taipei 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 mellotron 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 Ohio Players to the disco kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Lee Hazlewood. All the underground hits.
All Donny Hathaway tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every the Normal record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Cheater Slicks record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord 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?
Pere Ubu,
Letta Mbulu,
Minny Pops,
Dawn Penn,
Camberwell Now,
Marine Girls,
The Seeds,
Niagra,
Rakim,
Whodini,
Avey Tare,
Spandau Ballet,
Robert Hood,
The Detroit Cobras,
The Cure,
Bronski Beat,
Blossom Toes,
the Bar-Kays,
Lungfish,
The Black Dice,
Zapp,
Lucky Dragons,
The Associates,
Isaac Hayes,
Reuben Wilson,
Ultra Naté,
Dark Day,
Wings,
The Modern Lovers,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Jesper Dahlback,
Donald Byrd,
Roy Ayers,
Jeru the Damaja,
Jimmy McGriff,
Eden Ahbez,
Aloha Tigers,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Young Marble Giants,
Swell Maps,
Lower 48,
Rekid,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Oblivians,
Gregory Isaacs,
Erykah Badu,
Barry Ungar,
Cameo,
Tubeway Army,
Agitation Free,
Roxette,
Idris Muhammad,
The Wake,
The Fire Engines,
Deakin,
Little Man,
Ultravox,
Au Pairs,
The Angels of Light,
The Pretty Things,
Quadrant,
Mr. Review,
Drexciya, Drexciya, Drexciya, Drexciya.
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.