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 Nauru and from Sao Paulo.
But I was there.
I was there in 1973.
I was there at the first Television show in New York.
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 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Shanghai and Salvador.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Milan 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 mellotron 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 Aural Exciters to the rock kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Richard Hell and the Voidoids. All the underground hits.
All Todd Rundgren tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Martian 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Hasil Adkins record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Half Japanese,
Todd Terry,
Hashim,
Anthony Braxton,
Second Layer,
Desert Stars,
Eddi Front,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Black Bananas,
Peter & Gordon,
Shuggie Otis,
Funkadelic,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Alphaville,
Lyres,
Talk Talk,
Animal Collective,
John Cale,
Derrick Morgan,
Pussy Galore,
The Misunderstood,
Oblivians,
The Busters,
Soul Sonic Force,
Little Man,
Television Personalities,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
OOIOO,
JFA,
Byron Stingily,
Organ,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Slave,
Adolescents,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
The Martian,
The Saints,
The Offenders,
Rufus Thomas,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Scion,
Yellowson,
Boogie Down Productions,
Pagans,
Minor Threat,
Interpol,
Fat Boys,
The Dirtbombs,
Rosa Yemen,
The Doors,
Pantytec,
Sonic Youth,
Smog,
Yusef Lateef,
Alice Coltrane,
DJ Style,
ABC,
Barrington Levy,
Alton Ellis,
8 Eyed Spy,
Scott Walker, Scott Walker, Scott Walker, Scott Walker.
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.