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 Marshall Islands and from Houston.
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 1967 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Cairo and Paris.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Portland 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 1971 at the first Selda practice in a loft in Istanbul.
I was working on the mellotron sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Alphaville to the grunge kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 June of 44. All the underground hits.
All Excepter tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Rosa Yemen 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Hardrive record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
The Misunderstood,
Angry Samoans,
Eden Ahbez,
the Soft Cell,
Subhumans,
Gregory Isaacs,
Underground Resistance,
Blancmange,
Goldenarms,
Patti Smith,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
The Barracudas,
Grauzone,
The J.B.'s,
Marcia Griffiths,
Jesper Dahlback,
Country Joe & The Fish,
The Index,
Marvin Gaye,
Second Layer,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Depeche Mode,
June of 44,
Schoolly D,
Marmalade,
Section 25,
The Monochrome Set,
OOIOO,
Stetsasonic,
Donald Byrd,
Connie Case,
Wally Richardson,
Deepchord,
Massinfluence,
The Detroit Cobras,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Franke,
The Happenings,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
The Slits,
Aural Exciters,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Bad Manners,
Organ,
Cal Tjader,
Fugazi,
Groovy Waters,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
James Chance & The Contortions,
In Retrospect,
Jeff Mills,
New Age Steppers,
Malaria!,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Kas Product,
Judy Mowatt,
Scratch Acid,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Magazine,
Negative Approach,
Marshall Jefferson, Marshall Jefferson, Marshall Jefferson, Marshall Jefferson.
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.