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 Kyrgyzstan and from Manila.
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 1969 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Sao Paulo and Philadelphia.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Glasgow 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 arpeggiator 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 Nation of Ulysses to the punk kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Popol Vuh. All the underground hits.
All ABC tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Agitation Free record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance 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 mellotron and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Rhythim Is Rhythim record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Dave Clark Five,
L. Decosne,
EPMD,
Terrestrial Tones,
Scrapy,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Bizarre Inc.,
Marmalade,
Ronan,
These Immortal Souls,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Black Pus,
Kerrie Biddell,
Black Sheep,
Kurtis Blow,
The Searchers,
Tommy Roe,
Tropical Tobacco,
Camouflage,
Erasure,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Organ,
Deepchord,
Angry Samoans,
CMW,
Gang of Four,
Alphaville,
The Happenings,
The Move,
Nico,
8 Eyed Spy,
Alice Coltrane,
Hasil Adkins,
Dawn Penn,
Traffic Nightmare,
Cymande,
Roger Hodgson,
T. Rex,
Robert Hood,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Whodini,
Delta 5,
Zapp,
Bobby Sherman,
Deakin,
The Smiths,
The Gories,
Arab on Radar,
Crispian St. Peters,
Royal Trux,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
ABBA,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Anthony Braxton,
Matthew Bourne,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Yazoo,
Subhumans,
Arthur Verocai,
The Modern Lovers,
Absolute Body Control,
Erykah Badu, Erykah Badu, Erykah Badu, Erykah Badu.
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.