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 Oman and from Johannesburg.
But I was there.
I was there in 1968.
I was there at the first Can show in Cologne.
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 1967 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Milan and Bremen.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Paris 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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the spring reverb sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Pulsallama to the techno 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 Tropical Tobacco. All the underground hits.
All Rhythm & Sound tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Pagans record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a linndrum and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Harry Pussy record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Mary Jane Girls,
The Fire Engines,
Fela Kuti,
Sly & The Family Stone,
MDC,
Sunsets and Hearts,
The Star Department,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
X-Ray Spex,
The Five Americans,
Slick Rick,
Easy Going,
David McCallum,
Morten Harket,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Faust,
Rosa Yemen,
Judy Mowatt,
Jerry's Kids,
Ultravox,
Mantronix,
Bob Dylan,
Rites of Spring,
The Dirtbombs,
Harmonia,
Silicon Teens,
John Foxx,
the Slits,
Rufus Thomas,
The Grass Roots,
Neu!,
Throbbing Gristle,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
New York Dolls,
Eric Copeland,
Minnie Riperton,
Desert Stars,
Altered Images,
Boredoms,
Cymande,
The New Christs,
Camron Feat. Memphis Bleek And Beenie Seigel,
Joy Division,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Anthony Braxton,
Massinfluence,
Q and Not U,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Stockholm Monsters,
The Alarm Clocks,
Ralphi Rosario,
The Fugs,
The Moleskins,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Lyres,
Country Teasers,
Index,
The Toasters, The Toasters, The Toasters, The Toasters.
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.