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 Namibia and from Lagos.
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 1967 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Hong Kong and Beijing.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Beijing 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 chamberlin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Roy Ayers Ubiquity to the grime kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Dead Boys. All the underground hits.
All Camron Feat. Jay Z And Juelz tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Rakim record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk 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 spring reverb and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Red Lorry Yellow Lorry record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Doors,
The Dave Clark Five,
Kayak,
Harmonia,
Kaleidoscope,
Robert Hood,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
The Toasters,
Spoonie Gee,
Todd Terry,
the Sonics,
Dual Sessions,
Babytalk,
MDC,
Alton Ellis,
Andrew Hill,
Crispy Ambulance,
Marcia Griffiths,
Infiniti,
Bob Dylan,
Sun City Girls,
Grandmaster Flash,
Robert Wyatt,
Susan Cadogan,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
KRS-One,
Excepter,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Aswad,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Camouflage,
Pierre Henry,
The Durutti Column,
The Blues Magoos,
Section 25,
Stetsasonic,
The Searchers,
Kool Moe Dee,
Can,
Gastr Del Sol,
Prince Buster,
Cymande,
Desert Stars,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Archie Shepp,
AZ,
Unwound,
Amazonics,
David McCallum,
ABC,
Nation of Ulysses,
It's A Beautiful Day,
H. Thieme,
Drive Like Jehu,
Nick Fraelich,
The American Breed,
Chris Corsano,
The Skatalites,
Charles Mingus,
The Move,
Freddie Wadling, Freddie Wadling, Freddie Wadling, Freddie Wadling.
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.