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 Tajikistan and from Toronto.
But I was there.
I was there in 1984.
I was there at the first Arcadia show in London.
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 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Halifax and Lyon.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Tokyo 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 theremin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Johnny Clarke to the funk 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 Deadbeat. All the underground hits.
All Groovy Waters tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Outsiders 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a E-Dancer record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Black Pus,
Lower 48,
Jerry's Kids,
Sarah Menescal,
Duran Duran,
The Associates,
Nico,
Joyce Sims,
The Motions,
James White and The Blacks,
Pet Shop Boys,
AZ,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Kurtis Blow,
Sister Nancy,
The Martian,
Aloha Tigers,
The Offenders,
Chris & Cosey,
Little Man,
Nas,
Gang Green,
Negative Approach,
Siglo XX,
Television,
The Remains,
China Crisis,
48th St. Collective,
Althea and Donna,
Letta Mbulu,
Darondo,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Bob Dylan,
Sonny Sharrock,
Terrestrial Tones,
the Soft Cell,
Public Image Ltd.,
In Retrospect,
John Foxx,
Dawn Penn,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
The Smiths,
The Durutti Column,
Skriet,
The Victims,
Drexciya,
Colin Newman,
Delta 5,
The Mummies,
Jandek,
Banda Bassotti,
Ohio Players,
The Gun Club,
Sonic Youth,
Derrick Morgan,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
The Red Krayola,
A Certain Ratio,
Kenny Larkin,
Cecil Taylor, Cecil Taylor, Cecil Taylor, Cecil Taylor.
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.