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 Bangladesh and from Johannesburg.
But I was there.
I was there in 1970.
I was there at the first Onyeabor show in Enugu.
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 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Winnipeg and Glasgow.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Beijing 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 1980 at the first Cybotron practice in a loft in Detroit.
I was working on the oboe 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 Notorious Big And Bone Thugs to the electroclash 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 Amon Düül. All the underground hits.
All Anthony Braxton tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Bobby Womack 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Eddi Front record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Soul II Soul,
Warsaw,
Eurythmics,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
These Immortal Souls,
the Germs,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Donald Byrd,
Groovy Waters,
Crime,
The Techniques,
Radiohead,
Livin' Joy,
E-Dancer,
the Bar-Kays,
MC5,
Carl Craig,
Unwound,
The Invisible,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Ultravox,
Metal Thangz,
Easy Going,
Fluxion,
Andrew Hill,
Half Japanese,
Gabor Szabo,
Ludus,
Peter and Kerry,
Desert Stars,
The Cramps,
The Misunderstood,
UT,
JFA,
Newcleus,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Deadbeat,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
The Last Poets,
Glambeats Corp.,
Kerrie Biddell,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Sandy B,
The Offenders,
Ice-T,
Scion,
Rhythm & Sound,
Rakim,
KRS-One,
Big Daddy Kane,
Section 25,
Kas Product,
The Motions,
Jacob Miller,
The Five Americans,
Yellowson,
China Crisis,
The Durutti Column,
Girls At Our Best!,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Bad Manners, Bad Manners, Bad Manners, Bad Manners.
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.