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 Zimbabwe and from Mumbai.
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 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Houston and Madrid.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Johannesburg 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 arpeggiator 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 the Human League to the grunge 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 Camouflage. All the underground hits.
All Bobby Womack tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Scion record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz 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 an oboe and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Derrick Morgan record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Smog,
Peter & Gordon,
The Motions,
These Immortal Souls,
Organ,
Bang On A Can,
Rosa Yemen,
Visage,
Country Teasers,
The United States of America,
New Order,
The Shadows of Knight,
Niagra,
Scientists,
Barbara Tucker,
Throbbing Gristle,
Glambeats Corp.,
EPMD,
The Index,
Guru Guru,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Soft Machine,
The Angels of Light,
Gang Gang Dance,
Sandy B,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Gang Starr,
Erykah Badu,
X-101,
Tubeway Army,
Sonny Sharrock,
Kool Moe Dee,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Skriet,
Grey Daturas,
The Birthday Party,
X-Ray Spex,
The Last Poets,
Eden Ahbez,
Eric Copeland,
Cymande,
Robert Görl,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Peter and Kerry,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
June of 44,
Ornette Coleman,
Gichy Dan,
a-ha,
Grandmaster Flash,
Radio Birdman,
The Leaves,
10cc,
Quantec,
Wire,
Panda Bear,
Aaron Thompson,
Banda Bassotti,
UT,
Quadrant,
Lyres,
The Gap Band,
Wally Richardson, Wally Richardson, Wally Richardson, Wally Richardson.
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.