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 Guinea and from Lagos.
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 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Toronto and Stockholm.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lyon 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 Mad Mike to the grime kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 This Heat. All the underground hits.
All Sight & Sound tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Barry Ungar record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Toni Rubio record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Roxette,
Spoonie Gee,
Con Funk Shun,
These Immortal Souls,
Gang of Four,
Joe Smooth,
Charles Mingus,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Susan Cadogan,
Stetsasonic,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Royal Trux,
Wire,
Banda Bassotti,
Mo-Dettes,
Stereo Dub,
Pantaleimon,
Lower 48,
Technova,
Funkadelic,
Dual Sessions,
Graham Central Station,
The Offenders,
Soft Cell,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
The Searchers,
Pierre Henry,
Kerrie Biddell,
The Detroit Cobras,
The Sound,
The Smiths,
The Stooges,
The Fall,
Erykah Badu,
Amazonics,
Surgeon,
Isaac Hayes,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
UT,
The Raincoats,
Minny Pops,
Man Eating Sloth,
Pantytec,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Agent Orange,
The Pretty Things,
Unwound,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Tres Demented,
Roy Ayers,
Goldenarms,
Fat Boys,
The Walker Brothers,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Dawn Penn,
Spandau Ballet,
Boredoms,
Das Ding,
Rakim,
Jeru the Damaja,
Youth Brigade,
Alison Limerick,
Gil Scott Heron,
Man Parrish, Man Parrish, Man Parrish, Man Parrish.
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.