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 Tanzania and from Sao Paulo.
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 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Johannesburg and Lyon.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Bremen 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 808 sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Donald Byrd 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 Bobby Byrd. All the underground hits.
All Dorothy Ashby tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Boredoms record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Moody Blues record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Blues Magoos,
Swell Maps,
Soft Machine,
New Order,
Jandek,
Shuggie Otis,
Bronski Beat,
Marc Almond,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
The Five Americans,
The Raincoats,
Cymande,
Brick,
Man Eating Sloth,
Terrestrial Tones,
Bobby Byrd,
Lucky Dragons,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Porter Ricks,
Robert Wyatt,
Oneida,
Carl Craig,
Pole,
Howard Jones,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Brothers Johnson,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
The Vogues,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Crime,
Amon Düül II,
Blossom Toes,
Aaron Thompson,
the Germs,
cv313,
kango's stein massive,
Organ,
The Associates,
The Velvet Underground,
Hasil Adkins,
Warsaw,
Junior Murvin,
Von Mondo,
Ossler,
Erykah Badu,
Kurtis Blow,
The Busters,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Trumans Water,
Eddi Front,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
China Crisis,
The Fugs,
Joe Finger,
Mandrill,
Lee Hazlewood,
Yellowson,
The Offenders,
Zero Boys,
Brass Construction, Brass Construction, Brass Construction, Brass Construction.
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.