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 Tuvalu and from Milan.
But I was there.
I was there in 1968.
I was there at the first Can show in Cologne.
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 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Jakarta and Lagos.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school London 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 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 Harry Pussy to the techno kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 The Music Machine. All the underground hits.
All Wire tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge 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 linndrum and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Slackers record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
John Holt,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Barclay James Harvest,
Eric B and Rakim,
Ralphi Rosario,
Q65,
Bush Tetras,
Wally Richardson,
Altered Images,
David McCallum,
Interpol,
Skriet,
Grey Daturas,
Graham Central Station,
Gerry Rafferty,
The Evens,
The Cure,
Moby Grape,
B.T. Express,
The Tremeloes,
Depeche Mode,
Bauhaus,
Vainqueur,
a-ha,
Dark Day,
PIL,
Gong,
Lucky Dragons,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Arthur Verocai,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
The Blues Magoos,
Pantytec,
Ornette Coleman,
Bronski Beat,
Newcleus,
Sonny Sharrock,
Franke,
Soulsonic Force,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
The Monks,
Cybotron,
Brass Construction,
The Dave Clark Five,
T.S.O.L.,
Bad Manners,
Reagan Youth,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
The Gap Band,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Parry Music,
Yazoo,
The Shadows of Knight,
Fatback Band,
the Association,
Jeru the Damaja,
Soft Cell,
Jeff Mills, Jeff Mills, Jeff Mills, Jeff Mills.
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.