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 Algeria and from Woodstock.
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 1965 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Paris and Cairo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Seoul 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 güiro 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 Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five to the crunk kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Dirtbombs. All the underground hits.
All Archie Shepp tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every JFA 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a snare and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Larry & the Blue Notes record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Bang On A Can,
The Shadows of Knight,
Wings,
Procol Harum,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Mandrill,
Index,
Kevin Saunderson,
Todd Rundgren,
Gastr Del Sol,
X-Ray Spex,
cv313,
Black Sheep,
Monolake,
Big Daddy Kane,
Trumans Water,
Can,
The Names,
Pylon,
The Fortunes,
Japan,
Al Stewart,
Wire,
Kurtis Blow,
Colin Newman,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Nation of Ulysses,
Monks,
the Soft Cell,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Tubeway Army,
Alton Ellis,
Mantronix,
The Kinks,
Donny Hathaway,
Rufus Thomas,
Pantaleimon,
Ten City,
DJ Sneak,
E-Dancer,
Sister Nancy,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Cybotron,
Jacob Miller,
Brick,
Sällskapet,
Soulsonic Force,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Pagans,
The Barracudas,
John Foxx,
Todd Terry,
B.T. Express,
The Saints,
The Gap Band,
Symarip,
Cal Tjader,
8 Eyed Spy, 8 Eyed Spy, 8 Eyed Spy, 8 Eyed Spy.
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.