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 Algeria and from Johannesburg.
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 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in London and Woodstock.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Sao Paulo 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 mellotron 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 Arab on Radar to the grunge 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 Lafayette Afro Rock Band. All the underground hits.
All Basic Channel tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Parry Music record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Peter and Kerry record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
The Trojans,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
The Toasters,
Japan,
The Misunderstood,
Main Source,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Hardrive,
Gil Scott Heron,
John Coltrane,
Bill Wells,
Urselle,
Moss Icon,
Public Enemy,
Rakim,
Motorama,
Johnny Clarke,
the Bar-Kays,
Stiv Bators,
The Slackers,
the Human League,
Gregory Isaacs,
Eric B and Rakim,
Kurtis Blow,
Barbara Tucker,
Marmalade,
Quantec,
Vainqueur,
The Monks,
Eddi Front,
Piero Umiliani,
The Sonics,
Cabaret Voltaire,
MDC,
Don Cherry,
10cc,
The Doobie Brothers,
Crooked Eye,
Slick Rick,
Dawn Penn,
Cymande,
It's A Beautiful Day,
New Order,
MC5,
Audionom,
Grandmaster Flash,
Negative Approach,
The Moody Blues,
Quadrant,
Siglo XX,
DNA,
Roxette,
Avey Tare,
The Cramps,
Minutemen,
Hashim,
Funky Four + One,
The Electric Prunes,
Pantaleimon,
Rufus Thomas,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Bobby Hutcherson, Bobby Hutcherson, Bobby Hutcherson, Bobby Hutcherson.
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.