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 Guinea and from Edmonton.
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 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Jakarta and Portland.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 clarinet 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 Country Teasers to the dance kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Metal Thangz. All the underground hits.
All Cluster tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every David McCallum record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a rhodes and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Marc Almond record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Organ,
Todd Rundgren,
Barclay James Harvest,
Graham Central Station,
Ituana,
Banda Bassotti,
Oblivians,
Freddie Wadling,
Crispy Ambulance,
Nas,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Public Enemy,
Radiohead,
Nico,
The Smoke,
The Divine Comedy,
Zero Boys,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Joy Division,
The Young Rascals,
Sun Ra,
This Heat,
Kerri Chandler,
Brick,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Henry Cow,
Stiv Bators,
Echospace,
Tubeway Army,
a-ha,
kango's stein massive,
Urselle,
The Modern Lovers,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Josef K,
Pierre Henry,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Niagra,
Marvin Gaye,
Suburban Knight,
The Knickerbockers,
Judy Mowatt,
Ultimate Spinach,
Minnie Riperton,
David Axelrod,
Royal Trux,
Fugazi,
Young Marble Giants,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Pantaleimon,
The Slackers,
Bluetip,
The Count Five,
T.S.O.L.,
CMW,
The Electric Prunes,
Gastr Del Sol,
Warren Ellis,
Peter & Gordon,
Jandek,
Subhumans, Subhumans, Subhumans, Subhumans.
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.