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 Solomon Islands and from Shanghai.
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 1961 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Milan and Spokane.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Delhi 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 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 Public Enemy to the grunge kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Gang Green. All the underground hits.
All the Sonics tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Young Marble Giants record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk 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 chamberlin and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Flipper record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Beau Brummels,
Funkadelic,
Rosa Yemen,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Ice-T,
Quadrant,
Kas Product,
Prince Buster,
Sun Ra,
Kool Moe Dee,
Boogie Down Productions,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Sonny Sharrock,
Cymande,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
The Cowsills,
Stetsasonic,
Magazine,
The Pop Group,
Gong,
The Gun Club,
Nas,
Erykah Badu,
the Human League,
Surgeon,
Public Image Ltd.,
Al Stewart,
The Count Five,
The Monochrome Set,
Soul II Soul,
Public Enemy,
Eric Copeland,
Robert Wyatt,
Barbara Tucker,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
The Star Department,
Fugazi,
La Düsseldorf,
the Slits,
Moby Grape,
Tropical Tobacco,
Unwound,
Spoonie Gee,
Gang of Four,
The Remains,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Banda Bassotti,
Althea and Donna,
Lower 48,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Joy Division,
Rod Modell,
the Soft Cell,
Susan Cadogan,
Kevin Saunderson,
Colin Newman,
Sparks,
UT,
New Order, New Order, New Order, New Order.
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.