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 Suriname and from Lagos.
But I was there.
I was there in 1967.
I was there at the first Rodriguez 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 1961 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Seoul.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 chamberlin 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 Jacques Brel to the grunge kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Visage. All the underground hits.
All Soft Cell tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Bauhaus 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Neil Young & Crazy Horse record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Public Enemy,
The Buckinghams,
Lightning Bolt,
The Electric Prunes,
The Knickerbockers,
Make Up,
Arcadia,
Unrelated Segments,
Minor Threat,
Fugazi,
Mad Mike,
The Last Poets,
Schoolly D,
Amon Düül II,
Grey Daturas,
The Monks,
John Cale,
The Doors,
Royal Trux,
Connie Case,
Infiniti,
Los Fastidios,
Cluster,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
The Moody Blues,
Mantronix,
Dead Boys,
Camberwell Now,
Juan Atkins,
Josef K,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Eden Ahbez,
Bluetip,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Television Personalities,
The Cure,
The Victims,
Sun City Girls,
The Sound,
Moby Grape,
UT,
Swell Maps,
Delon & Dalcan,
Skriet,
The Gladiators,
B.T. Express,
Rapeman,
Piero Umiliani,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Yusef Lateef,
Suburban Knight,
Patti Smith,
Joe Smooth,
Anakelly,
Grandmaster Flash,
Terry Callier,
Radio Birdman,
Mark Hollis,
The Fire Engines,
The Gories, The Gories, The Gories, The Gories.
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.