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 Ethiopia and from Delhi.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Neu! show in Düsseldorf.
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 1964 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Toronto and Manchester.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Taipei 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 spring reverb sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Nation of Ulysses to the electroclash kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Boz Scaggs. All the underground hits.
All Intrusion tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Scientists 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a snare and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Marcia Griffiths record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
John Coltrane,
Livin' Joy,
Nik Kershaw,
Siglo XX,
Essential Logic,
Isaac Hayes,
Ohio Players,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Funkadelic,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Q and Not U,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Thee Headcoats,
Hot Snakes,
Delon & Dalcan,
Barbara Tucker,
Chris & Cosey,
Audionom,
The Fuzztones,
Guru Guru,
Sugar Minott,
Jacques Brel,
Ornette Coleman,
Erasure,
Tim Buckley,
The Cure,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Easy Going,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Barry Ungar,
The Sound,
Joensuu 1685,
Mantronix,
Iggy Pop,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
MC5,
Morten Harket,
Harry Pussy,
Prince Buster,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Franke,
Wolf Eyes,
Fat Boys,
Nation of Ulysses,
Slick Rick,
Radio Birdman,
The Pretty Things,
the Normal,
Arab on Radar,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Swell Maps,
Robert Wyatt,
Little Man,
EPMD,
Vladislav Delay,
Shuggie Otis,
Lebanon Hanover,
ABC,
Cecil Taylor,
Pagans,
Desert Stars, Desert Stars, Desert Stars, Desert Stars.
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.