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 Brunei and from Lyon.
But I was there.
I was there in 1980.
I was there at the first Cybotron 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 1967 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Winnipeg and Jakarta.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Calgary 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 Art Ensemble Of Chicago to the grunge kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Roy Ayers Ubiquity. All the underground hits.
All Index tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Josef K record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash 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 a harpsichord and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Jawbox 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?
Wire,
The Smoke,
Gang Green,
MC5,
Yellowson,
Brand Nubian,
Parry Music,
Ice-T,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Juan Atkins,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
The Litter,
Lightning Bolt,
Interpol,
OOIOO,
Joe Smooth,
Rhythm & Sound,
Ultimate Spinach,
Fifty Foot Hose,
June Days,
Motorama,
Mad Mike,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Clear Light,
Unrelated Segments,
The Happenings,
10cc,
Royal Trux,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Fad Gadget,
Moebius,
Television Personalities,
Talk Talk,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Babytalk,
Kurtis Blow,
the Bar-Kays,
Goldenarms,
The Cowsills,
the Soft Cell,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
The Durutti Column,
Icehouse,
Gang Starr,
Todd Rundgren,
The Pretty Things,
Simply Red,
Eric Dolphy,
a-ha,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Black Sheep,
London Community Gospel Choir,
The Saints,
Peter & Gordon,
Japan,
Lower 48,
Lakeside,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Steve Hackett,
The Last Poets, The Last Poets, The Last Poets, The Last Poets.
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.