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 Belgium and from Edmonton.
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 1961 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Madrid.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Stockholm 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 1968 at the first Can practice in a loft in Cologne.
I was working on the marimba sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Siglo XX to the rap 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 Masters at Work. All the underground hits.
All K-Klass tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Qualms record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a rhodes 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 oboe and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
The Flesh Eaters,
Bill Near,
Robert Hood,
Scrapy,
The Tremeloes,
The Barracudas,
Y Pants,
Spandau Ballet,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Hot Snakes,
Groovy Waters,
Amazonics,
the Association,
Fugazi,
Marine Girls,
Excepter,
Royal Trux,
Shoche,
Cal Tjader,
Porter Ricks,
Make Up,
Lebanon Hanover,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Magma,
Traffic Nightmare,
Cheater Slicks,
Symarip,
Lower 48,
Pere Ubu,
Malaria!,
Amon Düül II,
Pagans,
Brick,
The Beau Brummels,
Schoolly D,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Bootsy Collins,
Sparks,
Monks,
This Heat,
Circle Jerks,
Cameo,
The Wake,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Boogie Down Productions,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Jerry's Kids,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Jawbox,
Crooked Eye,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
AZ,
Joyce Sims,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Procol Harum,
Supertramp,
Clear Light,
David Bowie,
The Red Krayola,
Young Marble Giants,
The Gap Band,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
D'Angelo, D'Angelo, D'Angelo, D'Angelo.
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.