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 Chad and from Johannesburg.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Neu! show in Düsseldorf.
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 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Beijing and Glasgow.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Johannesburg 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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the organ sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Rites of Spring to the jazz kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Organ. All the underground hits.
All Bobby Byrd tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Monolake record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Rosa Yemen record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Standells,
Schoolly D,
Reuben Wilson,
Black Sheep,
Inner City,
Don Cherry,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Charles Mingus,
Cal Tjader,
Radiohead,
Lower 48,
The Slackers,
X-102,
Roxette,
X-Ray Spex,
Marcia Griffiths,
Derrick Morgan,
Aural Exciters,
Man Parrish,
48th St. Collective,
David Bowie,
The Associates,
Soul Sonic Force,
Quadrant,
Pantytec,
Marmalade,
UT,
Harry Pussy,
The Martian,
kango's stein massive,
Warren Ellis,
Hoover,
These Immortal Souls,
Oneida,
Second Layer,
Erasure,
Donny Hathaway,
Sister Nancy,
A Certain Ratio,
Buzzcocks,
Fela Kuti,
Gang Gang Dance,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
Scion,
The Saints,
Darondo,
Throbbing Gristle,
Sällskapet,
Fugazi,
Peter & Gordon,
Lucky Dragons,
Cecil Taylor,
Electric Prunes,
Bobby Sherman,
Idris Muhammad,
the Human League,
Tres Demented,
Liliput,
Kerri Chandler,
The Toasters,
Alice Coltrane,
The Doors,
Blake Baxter,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Quando Quango, Quando Quango, Quando Quango, Quando Quango.
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.