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 Mauritania and from Seoul.
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 1961 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Columbus and Beijing.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 snare 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 Lower 48 to the electroclash kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band. All the underground hits.
All Johnny Clarke tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Mars 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an organ and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Carl Craig record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Unwound,
Archie Shepp,
Blake Baxter,
Rotary Connection,
The Fugs,
Ultra Naté,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Jacques Brel,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Pantytec,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Malaria!,
The Blues Magoos,
Visage,
Mark Hollis,
Michelle Simonal,
Erasure,
Lakeside,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Be Bop Deluxe,
The Five Americans,
Agitation Free,
Soft Cell,
Wings,
Theoretical Girls,
Bill Near,
The Angels of Light,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Kayak,
David McCallum,
Sex Pistols,
Con Funk Shun,
Byron Stingily,
Simply Red,
Ossler,
The Wake,
Tomorrow,
LL Cool J,
James White and The Blacks,
Idris Muhammad,
Sixth Finger,
Flamin' Groovies,
Bad Manners,
Terrestrial Tones,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
the Swans,
Nick Fraelich,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Harry Pussy,
Los Fastidios,
Iggy Pop,
The Move,
Main Source,
Magma,
The Golliwogs,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Black Sheep,
The Slits,
Babytalk,
AZ,
The J.B.'s,
Freddie Wadling,
Amon Düül II, Amon Düül II, Amon Düül II, Amon Düül II.
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.