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 Togo and from Taipei.
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 1969 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in New York and London.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lille 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 güiro 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 Gil Scott Heron to the electroclash 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 Monks. All the underground hits.
All Goldenarms tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Minnie Riperton record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying an organ and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Little Man,
Cheater Slicks,
The Offenders,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
The Last Poets,
Eli Mardock,
Soulsonic Force,
Letta Mbulu,
Technova,
The Toasters,
The Cure,
Scan 7,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
New Order,
PIL,
T.S.O.L.,
Average White Band,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Saccharine Trust,
Tomorrow,
Heaven 17,
Flipper,
Ohio Players,
Pantytec,
Soft Cell,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Parry Music,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
These Immortal Souls,
Darondo,
Radio Birdman,
John Foxx,
Mandrill,
Nation of Ulysses,
Agent Orange,
The Trojans,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Funkadelic,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Nils Olav,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
the Normal,
Deakin,
Echospace,
Agitation Free,
Ash Ra Tempel,
The Sonics,
Kurtis Blow,
Franke,
Jerry's Kids,
The Beau Brummels,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Marshall Jefferson,
Barry Ungar,
Hoover,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Robert Görl,
Unrelated Segments,
The Gladiators, The Gladiators, The Gladiators, The Gladiators.
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.