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 Norway and from Tokyo.
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 1964 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Paris and Manchester.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Tehran 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 rhodes 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 The Sonics to the crunk 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 Lucky Dragons. All the underground hits.
All ABC tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every AZ record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Toasters record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Kerri Chandler,
Bronski Beat,
Electric Prunes,
Lalann,
Mission of Burma,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Television,
L. Decosne,
Tomorrow,
Connie Case,
The Walker Brothers,
Nirvana,
Steve Hackett,
Eli Mardock,
Gastr Del Sol,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Piero Umiliani,
Rites of Spring,
Thompson Twins,
Porter Ricks,
Jandek,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Grauzone,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Brothers Johnson,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Crispian St. Peters,
Fad Gadget,
Von Mondo,
The Fuzztones,
Throbbing Gristle,
Man Eating Sloth,
Masters at Work,
Moebius,
Public Image Ltd.,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
It's A Beautiful Day,
The Mummies,
Ralphi Rosario,
Hasil Adkins,
Bootsy Collins,
Marine Girls,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Quando Quango,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
U.S. Maple,
The American Breed,
Slave,
Make Up,
Avey Tare,
Wasted Youth,
Matthew Halsall,
Henry Cow,
Mandrill,
The Beau Brummels,
Loose Ends,
DNA,
Dawn Penn, Dawn Penn, Dawn Penn, Dawn Penn.
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.