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 Nepal and from Columbus.
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 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bologna and Shanghai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Tokyo 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 guitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 LL Cool J 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 Blossom Toes. All the underground hits.
All Jawbox tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam 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 '90s.
I hear you're buying a rhodes and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Curtis Mayfield record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a spring reverb.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Cameo,
Tubeway Army,
Todd Rundgren,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Bizarre Inc.,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Andrew Hill,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Ash Ra Tempel,
the Fania All-Stars,
Dorothy Ashby,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
JFA,
Dennis Brown,
Fad Gadget,
Underground Resistance,
Soul II Soul,
Pagans,
Morten Harket,
Stetsasonic,
Terrestrial Tones,
Steve Hackett,
The Sisters of Mercy,
The Leaves,
Charles Mingus,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Mad Mike,
Minutemen,
The Busters,
Gabor Szabo,
Spoonie Gee,
Rotary Connection,
Tom Boy,
Youth Brigade,
The Red Krayola,
Public Image Ltd.,
Wings,
Sonny Sharrock,
Freddie Wadling,
Electric Prunes,
The Skatalites,
Subhumans,
The Wake,
Goldenarms,
Alton Ellis,
Roxy Music,
Stockholm Monsters,
Public Enemy,
Gang Gang Dance,
The Stooges,
The Birthday Party,
Siglo XX,
Pantytec,
Kerri Chandler,
Crash Course in Science,
Jeru the Damaja,
The Neon Judgement,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Lindisfarne, Lindisfarne, Lindisfarne, Lindisfarne.
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.