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 Finland and from Philadelphia.
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 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in London and Columbus.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Bologna 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 mellotron 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 Symarip to the disco 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 the Association. All the underground hits.
All Larry & the Blue Notes tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every De La Soul & Jungle Brothers record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a mellotron and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Lizzy Mercier Descloux record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Sugar Minott,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Cheater Slicks,
Chris Corsano,
DJ Sneak,
The Stooges,
The Victims,
Eve St. Jones,
The Fortunes,
Minutemen,
Unrelated Segments,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Electric Light Orchestra,
The Mummies,
Mars,
Cal Tjader,
Grey Daturas,
The Star Department,
The Zeros,
Arab on Radar,
Max Romeo,
Agent Orange,
Ronan,
Altered Images,
Scott Walker,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
The Durutti Column,
Hasil Adkins,
Amon Düül II,
Faraquet,
Mary Jane Girls,
the Germs,
Eyeless In Gaza,
L. Decosne,
June Days,
The Slits,
The Golliwogs,
the Fania All-Stars,
The Happenings,
Mo-Dettes,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Massinfluence,
Von Mondo,
The Five Americans,
The Divine Comedy,
Prince Buster,
the Normal,
Au Pairs,
Zero Boys,
Qualms,
The Skatalites,
The Fugs,
The Walker Brothers,
Stiv Bators,
Janne Schatter,
Ituana,
PIL,
Cecil Taylor,
Saccharine Trust,
Radiopuhelimet,
Newcleus,
The Electric Prunes,
Cymande, Cymande, Cymande, Cymande.
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.