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 Slovakia and from Manila.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Neu! show in Düsseldorf.
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 Jakarta and Lyon.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 harpsichord sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Kango’s Stein Massive to the dance kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Gories. All the underground hits.
All Altered Images tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Second Layer 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Justin Hinds & The Dominoes record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Alphaville,
PIL,
Ten City,
Byron Stingily,
Nirvana,
Gang Gang Dance,
David Bowie,
The United States of America,
Arcadia,
Fluxion,
Chrome,
Ken Boothe,
Marine Girls,
AZ,
X-102,
Archie Shepp,
The Moleskins,
The Gladiators,
Reuben Wilson,
Ice-T,
Rhythm & Sound,
The Smiths,
The Fire Engines,
The Last Poets,
Sex Pistols,
The Velvet Underground,
Moby Grape,
Scientists,
Drive Like Jehu,
Sight & Sound,
Heaven 17,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Dennis Brown,
Ituana,
Pere Ubu,
Ralphi Rosario,
Sandy B,
Das Ding,
Essential Logic,
Joy Division,
kango's stein massive,
cv313,
Gang Starr,
Cluster,
Derrick May,
Soft Cell,
The Durutti Column,
Ossler,
Roxy Music,
Interpol,
Tom Boy,
Brand Nubian,
Darondo,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Soft Machine,
The Misunderstood,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
The New Christs,
Bill Wells,
T.S.O.L.,
Y Pants,
Zapp, Zapp, Zapp, Zapp.
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.