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 Liechtenstein and from Accra.
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 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Sao Paulo and Lyon.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 oboe sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Crime to the grime kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Sam Rivers. All the underground hits.
All Sarah Menescal tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Sex Pistols 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Average White Band record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Chris Corsano,
the Swans,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Rotary Connection,
Alice Coltrane,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Tropical Tobacco,
Matthew Halsall,
H. Thieme,
Eli Mardock,
Easy Going,
Public Image Ltd.,
Jesper Dahlback,
Thee Headcoats,
The Modern Lovers,
Circle Jerks,
Jacob Miller,
Alton Ellis,
Thompson Twins,
Outsiders,
Audionom,
Agitation Free,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Kool Moe Dee,
Motorama,
Deadbeat,
Amon Düül II,
A Certain Ratio,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
The Blackbyrds,
Brand Nubian,
Duran Duran,
Kurtis Blow,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Lindisfarne,
Half Japanese,
Brass Construction,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
EPMD,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Sex Pistols,
Warren Ellis,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
48th St. Collective,
The Fugs,
Wasted Youth,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Main Source,
The Associates,
X-Ray Spex,
The Smoke,
Gong,
Skriet,
Lou Reed,
The United States of America,
Gabor Szabo,
Black Pus,
Heaven 17,
Michelle Simonal,
Livin' Joy,
Marvin Gaye, Marvin Gaye, Marvin Gaye, Marvin Gaye.
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.