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 Taiwan and from Manchester.
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 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lyon and Shanghai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Cairo 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 arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 The Peanut Butter Conspiracy to the electroclash 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 Ornette Coleman. All the underground hits.
All the Slits tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Mark Hollis record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco 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 linndrum and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Real Kids record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Gabor Szabo,
PIL,
Siglo XX,
The Doobie Brothers,
Cecil Taylor,
Nirvana,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Outsiders,
Yazoo,
Girls At Our Best!,
Curtis Mayfield,
Babytalk,
Half Japanese,
Deadbeat,
Pantytec,
Rotary Connection,
K-Klass,
Magma,
Fugazi,
Parry Music,
Japan,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Scion,
Second Layer,
The Black Dice,
Sight & Sound,
David Axelrod,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Accadde A,
The Cowsills,
Boredoms,
David McCallum,
Ludus,
Rosa Yemen,
The Remains,
Yellowson,
Don Cherry,
DNA,
The Cramps,
a-ha,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Excepter,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
LL Cool J,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Harry Pussy,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Essential Logic,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Model 500,
The Happenings,
Davy DMX,
Sarah Menescal,
Kool Moe Dee,
Alton Ellis,
OOIOO,
Public Image Ltd.,
Saccharine Trust,
Aural Exciters,
The Fuzztones, The Fuzztones, The Fuzztones, The Fuzztones.
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.