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 Tuvalu and from Tokyo.
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 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mumbai and Lyon.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 Tom Verlaine 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 Robert Wyatt to the rock 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 It's A Beautiful Day. All the underground hits.
All The Gun Club tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Rekid 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Newcleus record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Duran Duran,
Marshall Jefferson,
Black Flag,
Soul Sonic Force,
Lungfish,
Bronski Beat,
Harpers Bizarre,
Country Joe & The Fish,
The Saints,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
The Smoke,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Sonny Sharrock,
Susan Cadogan,
The Cowsills,
Aloha Tigers,
Junior Murvin,
The Pop Group,
The Gun Club,
Roger Hodgson,
Jandek,
Lucky Dragons,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Eric Copeland,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Rufus Thomas,
World's Most,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Flash Fearless,
Angry Samoans,
Black Sheep,
Alphaville,
Bad Manners,
Amon Düül,
June Days,
Camouflage,
Parry Music,
Kool Moe Dee,
Fad Gadget,
Byron Stingily,
Tommy Roe,
Public Enemy,
Crooked Eye,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Oneida,
Sight & Sound,
Kevin Saunderson,
Fluxion,
Ultra Naté,
Urselle,
DJ Style,
Max Romeo,
The Martian,
Pere Ubu,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Dual Sessions,
Joensuu 1685,
Gang Green,
Boredoms,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Pussy Galore, Pussy Galore, Pussy Galore, Pussy Galore.
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.