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 Kyrgyzstan and from Toronto.
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 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Portland and Beijing.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school London 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 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 ABC to the techno kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Electric Light Orchestra. All the underground hits.
All Spandau Ballet tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Can record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying an organ and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Jeff Mills record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Bob Dylan,
Sun City Girls,
Davy DMX,
The Toasters,
Soft Cell,
Camron Feat. Memphis Bleek And Beenie Seigel,
Ohio Players,
Flash Fearless,
John Coltrane,
The Seeds,
The Blackbyrds,
The Happenings,
Danielle Patucci,
Hardrive,
Das Ding,
the Germs,
Graham Central Station,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Mandrill,
Sun Ra,
Janne Schatter,
Lalann,
The Last Poets,
Sight & Sound,
Easy Going,
Zero Boys,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Carl Craig,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Dual Sessions,
Pierre Henry,
Blancmange,
The Star Department,
Trumans Water,
Dorothy Ashby,
Neu!,
Curtis Mayfield,
LL Cool J,
The Detroit Cobras,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Arcadia,
Agitation Free,
Alphaville,
The Red Krayola,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Audionom,
Pole,
the Sonics,
Jeff Mills,
Swans,
Minor Threat,
The Kinks,
Aural Exciters,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Throbbing Gristle,
Desert Stars,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Erykah Badu,
David McCallum,
Lalo Schifrin,
Public Enemy, Public Enemy, Public Enemy, Public Enemy.
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.