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 Malawi and from Beijing.
But I was there.
I was there in 1968.
I was there at the first Can show in Cologne.
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 1966 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Stockholm and Calgary.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school New York 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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the linndrum sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Richard Hell and the Voidoids to the funk 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 Agent Orange. All the underground hits.
All The Human League tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Teenage Jesus and the Jerks record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance 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 spring reverb and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Minor Threat record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Roxette,
Interpol,
Black Sheep,
The Invisible,
Crispian St. Peters,
Deepchord,
the Germs,
Sällskapet,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Marvin Gaye,
Con Funk Shun,
Amon Düül,
Brick,
Bad Manners,
Ronan,
Black Pus,
The Human League,
David Bowie,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Skaos,
Peter and Kerry,
Charles Mingus,
Ten City,
The Associates,
The Mummies,
Henry Cow,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Janne Schatter,
D'Angelo,
Aural Exciters,
Zero Boys,
The Star Department,
Television Personalities,
Pagans,
Oblivians,
John Coltrane,
The Martian,
Procol Harum,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Delta 5,
X-101,
These Immortal Souls,
Nick Fraelich,
Pierre Henry,
Glenn Branca,
The Gories,
Flamin' Groovies,
the Swans,
Public Image Ltd.,
Harmonia,
the Bar-Kays,
Piero Umiliani,
Eric Dolphy,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Sister Nancy,
The Sound,
Pharoah Sanders,
The Skatalites,
Girls At Our Best!,
Bush Tetras,
The Kinks, The Kinks, The Kinks, The Kinks.
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.