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 Andorra and from Hong Kong.
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 1966 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and Winnipeg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 1975 at the first Ubu practice in a loft in Cleveland.
I was working on the organ 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 Tubeway Army to the grunge kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Slave. All the underground hits.
All Kayak tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Ajijia Myrayebe record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Angels of Light & Akron/Family record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a spring reverb.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Harpers Bizarre,
Urselle,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Robert Görl,
Blossom Toes,
Ponytail,
Barbara Tucker,
Robert Wyatt,
The Gun Club,
New Order,
Gang Green,
K-Klass,
The Names,
Jacob Miller,
Radio Birdman,
Rotary Connection,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
The Residents,
Gang of Four,
The Monochrome Set,
Sun City Girls,
Vladislav Delay,
Yazoo,
The Flesh Eaters,
Lower 48,
The Pop Group,
Cal Tjader,
Beasts of Bourbon,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Scion,
The Real Kids,
The Young Rascals,
The Index,
Monolake,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Mantronix,
Organ,
Roxy Music,
John Cale,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Cluster,
Lebanon Hanover,
Man Eating Sloth,
The J.B.'s,
Soft Cell,
The Move,
Reuben Wilson,
Slick Rick,
Hardrive,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
The Selecter,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
David Bowie,
The Star Department,
The Motions,
The Human League,
Absolute Body Control,
Fluxion,
Derrick Morgan,
Massinfluence,
The Techniques, The Techniques, The Techniques, The Techniques.
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.