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 Austria and from Sao Paulo.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Wire show in Watford.
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 1960 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Salvador and Spokane.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lyon 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 güiro 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 Gian Franco Pienzio to the rock kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Bootsy Collins. All the underground hits.
All Chris & Cosey tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Bobby Hutcherson record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Subhumans record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Popol Vuh,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Anakelly,
Bobby Sherman,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Ten City,
Jesper Dahlback,
Harry Pussy,
The Toasters,
Reuben Wilson,
Arthur Verocai,
the Bar-Kays,
Ronnie Foster,
Jimmy McGriff,
Television Personalities,
Tres Demented,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Clear Light,
Public Image Ltd.,
Maleditus Sound,
Zapp,
Eve St. Jones,
Japan,
Drexciya,
The Residents,
Monks,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Hardrive,
Scott Walker,
Gang of Four,
Mandrill,
Byron Stingily,
Ultimate Spinach,
Tim Buckley,
Altered Images,
The Gap Band,
Cal Tjader,
Eli Mardock,
Fad Gadget,
Delon & Dalcan,
Nico,
Radio Birdman,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Lalann,
Mo-Dettes,
Joe Smooth,
Electric Prunes,
Albert Ayler,
MDC,
Heaven 17,
The Zeros,
Neil Young,
The Count Five,
Silicon Teens,
Graham Central Station,
10cc,
the Sonics,
The Men They Couldn't Hang, The Men They Couldn't Hang, The Men They Couldn't Hang, The Men They Couldn't Hang.
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.