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 New Zealand and from Toronto.
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 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Philadelphia and Milan.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Tokyo 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 1977 at the first Mistral practice in a loft in Amsterdam.
I was working on the mellotron sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Nick Fraelich to the disco kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Ash Ra Tempel. All the underground hits.
All The Slits tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every E-Dancer record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash 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 harpsichord and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Ornette Coleman record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a linndrum.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Nirvana,
Bobby Byrd,
The Fugs,
Soul Sonic Force,
The New Christs,
Amon Düül,
Fad Gadget,
Monolake,
La Düsseldorf,
Hoover,
Stiv Bators,
Mantronix,
Graham Central Station,
Erykah Badu,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Barry Ungar,
Kevin Saunderson,
Colin Newman,
Sun Ra,
Wings,
June of 44,
Section 25,
The Cosmic Jokers,
The Cowsills,
Drexciya,
Radiohead,
The Gories,
Freddie Wadling,
Subhumans,
Lyres,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Severed Heads,
Howard Jones,
The Doors,
Boz Scaggs,
MC5,
Jacob Miller,
The Last Poets,
the Human League,
New Order,
Skriet,
Crime,
Underground Resistance,
Archie Shepp,
the Swans,
A Certain Ratio,
Sonny Sharrock,
Barrington Levy,
Tommy Roe,
Kurtis Blow,
Ossler,
Basic Channel,
Jacques Brel,
Infiniti,
Bill Wells,
Harpers Bizarre,
Organ,
Kool Moe Dee,
Lakeside,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Pharoah Sanders,
Television Personalities,
Vladislav Delay,
Cluster, Cluster, Cluster, Cluster.
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.