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 Djibouti and from Jakarta.
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 1969 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Jakarta and Lyon.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Cairo 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 clarinet 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 Fat Boys to the rap 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 Absolute Body Control. All the underground hits.
All The Standells tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Nico record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Lindisfarne record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a linndrum.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Ash Ra Tempel,
Sonic Youth,
Letta Mbulu,
June of 44,
The Alarm Clocks,
Icehouse,
Mark Hollis,
Big Daddy Kane,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Khruangbin,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Amon Düül II,
Robert Hood,
Joyce Sims,
Pulsallama,
Unwound,
The Beau Brummels,
Funky Four + One,
Godley & Creme,
8 Eyed Spy,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Traffic Nightmare,
The Birthday Party,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Don Cherry,
Cecil Taylor,
The Knickerbockers,
Clear Light,
Easy Going,
Pylon,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Cheater Slicks,
Pierre Henry,
Altered Images,
T. Rex,
Grauzone,
The Slits,
Joe Finger,
Television,
Jeru the Damaja,
New Age Steppers,
Zapp,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
The Sound,
Aloha Tigers,
Pole,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Sixth Finger,
Warsaw,
Stiv Bators,
Man Parrish,
L. Decosne,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
The Star Department,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Bluetip,
Skarface,
Spandau Ballet,
the Swans,
The Divine Comedy,
Minor Threat,
Bang On A Can,
Davy DMX, Davy DMX, Davy DMX, Davy DMX.
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.