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 Cambodia and from Tokyo.
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 1965 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bologna and Calgary.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school New York 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 theremin 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 Janne Schatter to the funk 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 June of 44. All the underground hits.
All Sun Ra tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Bill Near 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a mellotron and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Sex Pistols record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Infiniti,
Flipper,
The Barracudas,
MDC,
Wally Richardson,
Black Flag,
Bush Tetras,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Mark Hollis,
Camouflage,
The Dirtbombs,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Liliput,
The Gap Band,
Lebanon Hanover,
The Slackers,
Neil Young,
ABC,
Anthony Braxton,
Anakelly,
Avey Tare,
John Coltrane,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Blake Baxter,
Fear,
Faraquet,
The Mojo Men,
DNA,
The Standells,
Nas,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
David Axelrod,
Graham Central Station,
Carl Craig,
Y Pants,
Sonic Youth,
June of 44,
Half Japanese,
Cheater Slicks,
Royal Trux,
Soul Sonic Force,
F. McDonald,
Groovy Waters,
The Red Krayola,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Metal Thangz,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
The Monochrome Set,
Juan Atkins,
Laurel Aitken,
Camberwell Now,
The Victims,
The Fuzztones,
Minor Threat,
Wire,
Gabor Szabo,
Rufus Thomas,
Whodini,
Prince Buster,
EPMD,
E-Dancer,
This Heat, This Heat, This Heat, This Heat.
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.