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 Zimbabwe and from Toronto.
But I was there.
I was there in 1967.
I was there at the first Rodriguez show in Detroit.
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 1964 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and Manchester.
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 arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Rufus Thomas 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 Laurel Aitken. All the underground hits.
All Audionom tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Tropical Tobacco 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a FM Einheit record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
the Swans,
Intrusion,
Roy Ayers,
Yaz,
Barbara Tucker,
Barrington Levy,
Mark Hollis,
Theoretical Girls,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Ultravox,
Matthew Bourne,
Gregory Isaacs,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
The Trojans,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Lucky Dragons,
Rod Modell,
Stockholm Monsters,
Quantec,
Warsaw,
Barclay James Harvest,
The Alarm Clocks,
Tubeway Army,
The Victims,
The Happenings,
The Flesh Eaters,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
La Düsseldorf,
Marshall Jefferson,
Bizarre Inc.,
Mr. Review,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Harmonia,
Amon Düül,
The Doobie Brothers,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Schoolly D,
Rapeman,
Arthur Verocai,
Cal Tjader,
The Zeros,
Pole,
PIL,
Boz Scaggs,
Donny Hathaway,
Kaleidoscope,
Glenn Branca,
Al Stewart,
The Fall,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Delta 5,
Spandau Ballet,
Ice-T,
Amon Düül II,
Pierre Henry,
Juan Atkins,
Rekid,
Joy Division,
Magma,
The Monks,
Thee Headcoats, Thee Headcoats, Thee Headcoats, Thee Headcoats.
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.