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 Algeria and from Madrid.
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 1964 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Bologna.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Houston 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 linndrum sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 The Fortunes to the grime 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 Tomorrow. All the underground hits.
All Gichy Dan tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Theoretical Girls record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk 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 a theremin and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Bill Near record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a spring reverb.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Fall,
New Order,
JFA,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Hardrive,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Pulsallama,
Royal Trux,
MC5,
Colin Newman,
Malaria!,
The Raincoats,
Ludus,
Sun City Girls,
The Human League,
The Last Poets,
Country Joe & The Fish,
OOIOO,
Lee Hazlewood,
Bronski Beat,
Tres Demented,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
The Index,
a-ha,
The Star Department,
Popol Vuh,
Cluster,
Sexual Harrassment,
Goldenarms,
10cc,
Alton Ellis,
Marine Girls,
The Sound,
Siglo XX,
The Gun Club,
The Birthday Party,
Hoover,
Connie Case,
Jawbox,
Section 25,
Public Enemy,
Dennis Brown,
Sister Nancy,
Grauzone,
The Pretty Things,
John Foxx,
Echospace,
Crooked Eye,
Ultravox,
the Germs,
Niagra,
Pharoah Sanders,
Blossom Toes,
One Last Wish,
Altered Images,
Youth Brigade,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Derrick Morgan,
Wolf Eyes, Wolf Eyes, Wolf Eyes, Wolf Eyes.
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.