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 Thailand and from Jakarta.
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 1963 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bremen and Spokane.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Paris 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 808 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 Public Image Ltd. to the punk kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Dirtbombs. All the underground hits.
All Eyeless In Gaza tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Index record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Laurel Aitken record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Lebanon Hanover,
Heaven 17,
Main Source,
Cecil Taylor,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Country Teasers,
Iggy Pop,
the Association,
The Dirtbombs,
Television Personalities,
the Swans,
Fad Gadget,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Wally Richardson,
Derrick May,
Sight & Sound,
Television,
Glenn Branca,
Niagra,
Eli Mardock,
Ten City,
Lou Reed,
Agent Orange,
Nation of Ulysses,
James White and The Blacks,
R.M.O.,
Skaos,
Anthony Braxton,
Eden Ahbez,
Anakelly,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Tears for Fears,
Bronski Beat,
Barclay James Harvest,
Nico,
John Holt,
Inner City,
Ultravox,
Stockholm Monsters,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Josef K,
Tomorrow,
Technova,
Adolescents,
Tubeway Army,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
The Music Machine,
DNA,
The Gories,
Skriet,
Dead Boys,
Wasted Youth,
Sonny Sharrock,
a-ha,
Monks,
Kool Moe Dee,
Babytalk,
Crispy Ambulance,
Donald Byrd,
Hashim,
Vladislav Delay,
Quando Quango, Quando Quango, Quando Quango, Quando Quango.
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.