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 Gabon and from Houston.
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 1968 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tehran and New York.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Philadelphia 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 linndrum sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Rufus Thomas to the jazz 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 8 Eyed Spy. All the underground hits.
All The Star Department tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Underground Resistance 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a rhodes and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Archie Shepp record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Five Americans,
Kas Product,
The United States of America,
The Cowsills,
New York Dolls,
Alphaville,
Big Daddy Kane,
Warsaw,
Bootsy Collins,
Aswad,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
The Saints,
Joyce Sims,
La Düsseldorf,
Eli Mardock,
One Last Wish,
Radiohead,
Albert Ayler,
Jacob Miller,
Bobby Sherman,
Tropical Tobacco,
Man Parrish,
T.S.O.L.,
The Kinks,
Sonny Sharrock,
Aural Exciters,
Lungfish,
Fad Gadget,
Steve Hackett,
These Immortal Souls,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Scan 7,
Pantaleimon,
Grey Daturas,
The Walker Brothers,
Rod Modell,
R.M.O.,
AZ,
Altered Images,
Vladislav Delay,
Model 500,
Yazoo,
Brothers Johnson,
The Red Krayola,
Morten Harket,
Charles Mingus,
Nas,
John Lydon,
Buzzcocks,
Unrelated Segments,
Can,
Anthony Braxton,
Rekid,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Jeff Lynne,
Stereo Dub,
Todd Rundgren,
Bobby Womack,
David Axelrod,
Essential Logic,
Patti Smith,
Audionom,
Ohio Players,
Lou Reed, Lou Reed, Lou Reed, Lou Reed.
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.