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 Kyrgyzstan and from New York.
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 1965 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tokyo and Lille.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Madrid 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 spring reverb 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 Pylon to the crunk 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 The Neon Judgement. All the underground hits.
All Wire tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Zeros record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Neon Judgement record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Slick Rick,
Theoretical Girls,
The Mummies,
Boredoms,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Rotary Connection,
James Chance & The Contortions,
China Crisis,
DNA,
Negative Approach,
Eve St. Jones,
The Dead C,
Skarface,
Throbbing Gristle,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Cymande,
Ohio Players,
Bill Near,
Gong,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
The Invisible,
Boz Scaggs,
Agitation Free,
Intrusion,
Oneida,
Accadde A,
the Soft Cell,
Jacob Miller,
Malaria!,
The Count Five,
PIL,
Tomorrow,
Rapeman,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
JFA,
Minor Threat,
Juan Atkins,
Gang of Four,
Desert Stars,
Amon Düül,
Procol Harum,
Amazonics,
Johnny Osbourne,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Mary Jane Girls,
Kerrie Biddell,
MDC,
Neil Young,
Eurythmics,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
David Axelrod,
Delta 5,
Matthew Halsall,
One Last Wish,
the Normal,
EPMD,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Jawbox,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
The Evens,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
X-Ray Spex,
Popol Vuh,
The Happenings, The Happenings, The Happenings, The Happenings.
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.