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 Nepal and from Madrid.
But I was there.
I was there in 1973.
I was there at the first Television show in New York.
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 1968 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Halifax and Woodstock.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manila 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 guitar 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 Beasts of Bourbon to the punk kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 MC5. All the underground hits.
All Sexual Harrassment tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every the Slits record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Alarm Clocks record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Velvet Underground,
Morten Harket,
The Five Americans,
Albert Ayler,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Wire,
T. Rex,
It's A Beautiful Day,
D'Angelo,
The Mojo Men,
The Cure,
The Invisible,
Second Layer,
Peter and Kerry,
Bad Manners,
The Last Poets,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Nirvana,
John Lydon,
Harmonia,
8 Eyed Spy,
The Sonics,
Sam Rivers,
Vainqueur,
Pierre Henry,
Siglo XX,
Mr. Review,
The Sound,
Leonard Cohen,
Thee Headcoats,
The Modern Lovers,
Amazonics,
Young Marble Giants,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
The Sisters of Mercy,
World's Most,
The Cramps,
The Pretty Things,
David McCallum,
Susan Cadogan,
The Misunderstood,
Blake Baxter,
Drexciya,
Bobby Womack,
Johnny Osbourne,
Mars,
Alphaville,
Erykah Badu,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Suicide,
Guru Guru,
Camouflage,
Wolf Eyes,
Jeru the Damaja,
The Durutti Column,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Man Eating Sloth,
E-Dancer,
Eli Mardock,
Flamin' Groovies,
Oblivians, Oblivians, Oblivians, Oblivians.
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.