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 Romania and from Glasgow.
But I was there.
I was there in 1980.
I was there at the first Cybotron show in Detroit.
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 1963 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Salvador and Shanghai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manila 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 snare 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 Bush Tetras to the punk 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 Echospace. All the underground hits.
All The Men They Couldn't Hang tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Junior Murvin 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a rhodes and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Slackers record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Eli Mardock,
Wire,
Sam Rivers,
The Names,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Clear Light,
Stereo Dub,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Marcia Griffiths,
Lyres,
ABC,
8 Eyed Spy,
The Monks,
Joe Finger,
Tomorrow,
The Stooges,
Junior Murvin,
The Skatalites,
Roger Hodgson,
The Human League,
Sandy B,
Goldenarms,
Colin Newman,
The Real Kids,
Mandrill,
The Zeros,
Isaac Hayes,
Davy DMX,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Model 500,
Lou Reed,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Das Ding,
Suicide,
Siglo XX,
Sällskapet,
Matthew Bourne,
48th St. Collective,
Derrick May,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
AZ,
The Associates,
Joey Negro,
The Mojo Men,
The Toasters,
Bobby Hutcherson,
the Swans,
Deakin,
Lightning Bolt,
Dawn Penn,
Howard Jones,
Motorama,
Nik Kershaw,
In Retrospect,
Absolute Body Control,
Fela Kuti,
Sight & Sound,
Masters at Work,
Prince Buster,
Technova, Technova, Technova, Technova.
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.