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 Nicaragua and from Beijing.
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 1966 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Delhi and Beijing.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Bremen 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 clarinet 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 Cabaret Voltaire to the jazz kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Circle Jerks. All the underground hits.
All The Seeds tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Darondo 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a rhodes and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Minny Pops record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Pylon,
the Sonics,
Porter Ricks,
Joe Finger,
Harmonia,
Liliput,
The Gladiators,
Nick Fraelich,
The Selecter,
The Happenings,
Essential Logic,
James White and The Blacks,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
The Cowsills,
Harry Pussy,
Leonard Cohen,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
The Slits,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Moebius,
Whodini,
Scientists,
Mary Jane Girls,
Funky Four + One,
Bizarre Inc.,
Fugazi,
Franke,
The United States of America,
Symarip,
The Associates,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
the Slits,
Saccharine Trust,
Jimmy McGriff,
Donny Hathaway,
The Blackbyrds,
the Bar-Kays,
Ultravox,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Lower 48,
Sun City Girls,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
The Remains,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
The Doors,
Ohio Players,
Rod Modell,
Tres Demented,
The Names,
Toni Rubio,
The Techniques,
Andrew Hill,
Quantec,
Ralphi Rosario,
Rotary Connection,
Avey Tare,
the Germs,
The Last Poets,
Anthony Braxton,
Wire,
Minnie Riperton,
Bush Tetras, Bush Tetras, Bush Tetras, Bush Tetras.
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.