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 Liberia 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 1969 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bremen and Bremen.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Toronto 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 guitar 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 Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam to the rock kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Tomorrow. All the underground hits.
All Derrick Morgan tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Last Poets record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk 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 synthesizer and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Dave Gahan record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Trojans,
Visage,
Erykah Badu,
the Swans,
Hashim,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Trumans Water,
Chrome,
Guru Guru,
In Retrospect,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
The Techniques,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
China Crisis,
Barry Ungar,
Sandy B,
Fat Boys,
Negative Approach,
The Cramps,
Reuben Wilson,
Ten City,
Popol Vuh,
Japan,
Ronnie Foster,
Patti Smith,
The Birthday Party,
Pulsallama,
Nils Olav,
a-ha,
The Kinks,
Radiopuhelimet,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Joensuu 1685,
The Beau Brummels,
Franke,
The Angels of Light,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Cecil Taylor,
Joy Division,
Angry Samoans,
Mo-Dettes,
Unrelated Segments,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Sexual Harrassment,
Deadbeat,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Mark Hollis,
Joey Negro,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Aaron Thompson,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Bobby Byrd,
Toni Rubio,
Gang Gang Dance,
Black Sheep,
Severed Heads,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Neu!,
Stiv Bators, Stiv Bators, Stiv Bators, Stiv Bators.
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.