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 Marshall Islands and from Calgary.
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 1964 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Milan and Toronto.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Columbus 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 chamberlin 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 Soulsonic Force to the techno 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 The Slits. All the underground hits.
All Barclay James Harvest tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every MC5 record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Bang on a Can All-Stars record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
John Lydon,
The Litter,
The Music Machine,
Black Sheep,
Ultimate Spinach,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
the Slits,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Chris & Cosey,
Rufus Thomas,
Deadbeat,
Aloha Tigers,
Mission of Burma,
Sugar Minott,
Outsiders,
Fatback Band,
Pantytec,
Carl Craig,
Alphaville,
Scrapy,
Bush Tetras,
Kas Product,
Avey Tare,
Circle Jerks,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Michelle Simonal,
Hot Snakes,
Marine Girls,
The Raincoats,
H. Thieme,
Rekid,
Zapp,
Bill Near,
the Normal,
Crash Course in Science,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
The Invisible,
Joe Finger,
Rod Modell,
The Buckinghams,
Alton Ellis,
The Doors,
Black Moon,
the Bar-Kays,
Cluster,
Minutemen,
Danielle Patucci,
D'Angelo,
Radio Birdman,
Skriet,
The Velvet Underground,
New York Dolls,
Nation of Ulysses,
Joey Negro,
the Swans,
Ronnie Foster,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Albert Ayler,
Max Romeo,
Japan,
Drexciya, Drexciya, Drexciya, Drexciya.
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.