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 Peru and from Tehran.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Mistral show in Amsterdam.
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 1969 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manila and Cairo.
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 güiro 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 Josef K to the grime 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 Marmalade. All the underground hits.
All Dead Boys tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Fifty Foot Hose record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk 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 theremin and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Juan Atkins record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Sun Ra,
John Cale,
Kerrie Biddell,
Reagan Youth,
Section 25,
OOIOO,
The Pretty Things,
Zapp,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Organ,
Anthony Braxton,
Intrusion,
Agent Orange,
Grandmaster Flash,
Joensuu 1685,
Leonard Cohen,
Lucky Dragons,
Faust,
The Associates,
The Buckinghams,
Reuben Wilson,
The Birthday Party,
F. McDonald,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Qualms,
Babytalk,
Quadrant,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Magazine,
Harry Pussy,
Curtis Mayfield,
Saccharine Trust,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Aswad,
Rotary Connection,
Cameo,
Unwound,
Terry Callier,
The Zeros,
Bang On A Can,
Girls At Our Best!,
Youth Brigade,
The Angels of Light,
Television Personalities,
Oneida,
The Standells,
Bob Dylan,
the Human League,
Henry Cow,
Metal Thangz,
Slick Rick,
Ituana,
Gregory Isaacs,
David Bowie,
Stiv Bators,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Tommy Roe,
Freddie Wadling,
Todd Rundgren,
The Litter,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
10cc, 10cc, 10cc, 10cc.
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.