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 Burundi and from New York.
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 1961 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Winnipeg and Lyon.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Philadelphia 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 spring reverb sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Gregory Isaacs to the disco kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Dennis Brown. All the underground hits.
All Minnie Riperton tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Marcia Griffiths 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a La Düsseldorf record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Echospace,
The Cowsills,
Surgeon,
Soft Machine,
The Stooges,
Nico,
Juan Atkins,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Radiopuhelimet,
Quadrant,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Parry Music,
The Searchers,
The Star Department,
Infiniti,
Lou Reed,
The Divine Comedy,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Animal Collective,
OOIOO,
Los Fastidios,
Buzzcocks,
Gang Gang Dance,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Procol Harum,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Warsaw,
Anakelly,
Max Romeo,
Eric B and Rakim,
Bluetip,
The Slits,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Suburban Knight,
Arcadia,
The Offenders,
a-ha,
Tomorrow,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Jeff Lynne,
Monks,
The Golliwogs,
Thompson Twins,
Pere Ubu,
Malaria!,
Gang Starr,
Yellowson,
Marc Almond,
Amazonics,
Lucky Dragons,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
The Barracudas,
David Axelrod,
Leonard Cohen,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Carl Craig,
The Fire Engines,
Erasure,
Simply Red,
Theoretical Girls, Theoretical Girls, Theoretical Girls, Theoretical Girls.
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.