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 Slovakia and from Glasgow.
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 1964 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Delhi and Shanghai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Salvador 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 marimba sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Clear Light to the funk kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Seeds. All the underground hits.
All Circle Jerks tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every EPMD record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash 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 mellotron and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Minor Threat record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Theoretical Girls,
Radiohead,
The Residents,
Howard Jones,
Radio Birdman,
Flamin' Groovies,
Anthony Braxton,
The Moleskins,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Skarface,
Zero Boys,
Mad Mike,
Ultra Naté,
Mars,
MDC,
Duran Duran,
China Crisis,
Vladislav Delay,
Flash Fearless,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Loose Ends,
Procol Harum,
Gang of Four,
UT,
Bobby Sherman,
Eric Copeland,
Erykah Badu,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
the Association,
Half Japanese,
Essential Logic,
Juan Atkins,
the Soft Cell,
The Birthday Party,
Letta Mbulu,
Maleditus Sound,
Black Flag,
Niagra,
Bill Near,
Joensuu 1685,
Massinfluence,
The Human League,
Janne Schatter,
Minnie Riperton,
Shoche,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
The Busters,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
The United States of America,
Bad Manners,
Sällskapet,
Parry Music,
The Misunderstood,
Negative Approach,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Chris & Cosey,
La Düsseldorf,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Smog, Smog, Smog, Smog.
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.