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 South Africa and from Lagos.
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 1964 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mumbai and Delhi.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Seoul 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 linndrum sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Country Teasers to the techno kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 EPMD. All the underground hits.
All Amazonics tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Bad Manners record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Gabor Szabo record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Sparks,
The Smoke,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Bang On A Can,
ABBA,
Deadbeat,
John Lydon,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Average White Band,
Quando Quango,
Essential Logic,
DJ Style,
Black Bananas,
Lebanon Hanover,
Technova,
The Velvet Underground,
Wolf Eyes,
Graham Central Station,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Todd Terry,
Cecil Taylor,
World's Most,
Glambeats Corp.,
Radiohead,
The Vogues,
Grauzone,
The Motions,
Desert Stars,
Theoretical Girls,
Eden Ahbez,
Tim Buckley,
Banda Bassotti,
Con Funk Shun,
Youth Brigade,
The Knickerbockers,
Erykah Badu,
Sarah Menescal,
Talk Talk,
The Fire Engines,
John Holt,
Faust,
Matthew Bourne,
Nils Olav,
Adolescents,
Crime,
Hoover,
June Days,
Rufus Thomas,
Vladislav Delay,
Babytalk,
Outsiders,
Dual Sessions,
Roy Ayers,
The Martian,
Inner City,
The Remains,
David Bowie,
Cameo,
Bronski Beat,
Silicon Teens,
Swans, Swans, Swans, Swans.
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.