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 Liechtenstein 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 1962 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Calgary and Manila.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Cairo 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 linndrum sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Eric B and Rakim to the punk kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 The Birthday Party. All the underground hits.
All Albert Ayler tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every DNA record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Erykah Badu record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
MDC,
Dawn Penn,
Circle Jerks,
Lou Reed,
MC5,
Robert Wyatt,
The Seeds,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Ice-T,
Section 25,
Laurel Aitken,
Cluster,
The Selecter,
One Last Wish,
Metal Thangz,
the Association,
Hashim,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Scan 7,
The Misunderstood,
The Count Five,
Eve St. Jones,
Brothers Johnson,
Yellowson,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Nation of Ulysses,
Kayak,
Gichy Dan,
Magazine,
Masters at Work,
Youth Brigade,
The Alarm Clocks,
The Leaves,
Avey Tare,
The Flesh Eaters,
Bronski Beat,
the Sonics,
T.S.O.L.,
X-102,
Blancmange,
Can,
Half Japanese,
Jerry's Kids,
the Slits,
Tim Buckley,
Spoonie Gee,
Fluxion,
The Smiths,
Roxette,
Godley & Creme,
Khruangbin,
Donny Hathaway,
Intrusion,
The Raincoats,
Deakin,
Ohio Players,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Ituana,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Crime, Crime, Crime, Crime.
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.