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 Yemen and from Lagos.
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 1964 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Spokane and Halifax.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Glasgow 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 Moebius to the electroclash 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 Morten Harket. All the underground hits.
All Mars tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Last Poets 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 '80s.
I hear you're buying a rhodes and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a La Düsseldorf record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Gang Green,
Jawbox,
Pagans,
The Doors,
Ituana,
Sugar Minott,
Los Fastidios,
Adolescents,
The Toasters,
The Music Machine,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Ponytail,
Accadde A,
Marcia Griffiths,
Unrelated Segments,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Lyres,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
The J.B.'s,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Stetsasonic,
8 Eyed Spy,
Basic Channel,
Camron Feat. Jay Z And Juelz,
Maurizio,
Con Funk Shun,
Tubeway Army,
The Five Americans,
Sister Nancy,
Connie Case,
Spandau Ballet,
Ultravox,
Wally Richardson,
Harry Pussy,
Sonic Youth,
Deadbeat,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Magma,
The Offenders,
Nation of Ulysses,
Eric B and Rakim,
Intrusion,
James White and The Blacks,
Lalann,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
The Dead C,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Popol Vuh,
The Victims,
The Index,
Monks,
Radio Birdman,
Rhythm & Sound,
the Normal,
Television,
K-Klass,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
MC5,
The Fugs, The Fugs, The Fugs, The Fugs.
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.