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 Nigeria and from Calgary.
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 1967 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Seoul and Portland.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Calgary 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 1968 at the first Can practice in a loft in Cologne.
I was working on the sitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Pantaleimon to the punk kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Fad Gadget. All the underground hits.
All Nik Kershaw tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Radiopuhelimet record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco 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 clarinet and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Steve Hackett record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Quantec,
The Five Americans,
Motorama,
T. Rex,
The Durutti Column,
Little Man,
Sight & Sound,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Max Romeo,
Sun City Girls,
The Red Krayola,
Sällskapet,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Henry Cow,
The Sonics,
Maleditus Sound,
Kurtis Blow,
Avey Tare,
the Bar-Kays,
Robert Görl,
Jeff Lynne,
The Zeros,
Television,
Alison Limerick,
Echospace,
LL Cool J,
The Neon Judgement,
Mission of Burma,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Rakim,
Ken Boothe,
Idris Muhammad,
Josef K,
CMW,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Unrelated Segments,
The Selecter,
Aloha Tigers,
Robert Hood,
Ossler,
Quadrant,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Yazoo,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Loose Ends,
the Fania All-Stars,
The Fortunes,
Peter and Kerry,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Eden Ahbez,
the Swans,
Thompson Twins,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Section 25,
Siglo XX,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Intrusion,
Neu!,
The Kinks,
Bobby Byrd,
Flash Fearless,
Rufus Thomas,
Dorothy Ashby, Dorothy Ashby, Dorothy Ashby, Dorothy Ashby.
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.