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 Kyrgyzstan and from Mumbai.
But I was there.
I was there in 1983.
I was there at the first Lewis show in Vancouver.
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 Columbus and Salvador.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Mumbai 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 harpsichord 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 Warren Ellis to the jazz kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Dennis Brown. All the underground hits.
All Boz Scaggs tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Lalann record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Kerri Chandler record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Reuben Wilson,
Dead Boys,
Urselle,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
The Last Poets,
Brothers Johnson,
Frankie Knuckles,
Camouflage,
Ronan,
Unwound,
Q and Not U,
The Blackbyrds,
Nas,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
The Standells,
Panda Bear,
Gregory Isaacs,
Average White Band,
The Dead C,
Lou Reed,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Buzzcocks,
New Order,
48th St. Collective,
The Dirtbombs,
the Swans,
Amon Düül II,
Visage,
Alison Limerick,
Delon & Dalcan,
Pantaleimon,
Dark Day,
Stockholm Monsters,
Moby Grape,
Hashim,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Easy Going,
Malaria!,
The Kinks,
Marmalade,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
The Zeros,
Kas Product,
Y Pants,
The Young Rascals,
R.M.O.,
the Soft Cell,
Ludus,
Toni Rubio,
Organ,
KRS-One,
Eden Ahbez,
Patti Smith,
the Human League,
Con Funk Shun,
Kerri Chandler,
Idris Muhammad,
Magma,
Bill Near,
The Vogues, The Vogues, The Vogues, The Vogues.
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.