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 Indonesia and from London.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Selda show in Istanbul.
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 1962 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bremen and Shanghai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Bologna 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 808 sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Lou Reed & John Cale to the punk kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Man Eating Sloth. All the underground hits.
All Wasted Youth tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Rosa Yemen record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz 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 marimba and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Stooges record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Fugazi,
Groovy Waters,
Talk Talk,
La Düsseldorf,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
The Grass Roots,
The Dave Clark Five,
Roy Ayers,
Eurythmics,
Rod Modell,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Traffic Nightmare,
The Electric Prunes,
Yellowson,
Dennis Brown,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Hasil Adkins,
The Neon Judgement,
Ludus,
Blossom Toes,
Lou Christie,
Zero Boys,
Black Sheep,
Sex Pistols,
Lalo Schifrin,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Silicon Teens,
Kerrie Biddell,
Subhumans,
Warren Ellis,
Blake Baxter,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Roxy Music,
Procol Harum,
The Dead C,
The Human League,
Scientists,
Mary Jane Girls,
Max Romeo,
Radiopuhelimet,
Brass Construction,
The Evens,
Ohio Players,
Crash Course in Science,
Godley & Creme,
Thompson Twins,
Bobby Sherman,
Junior Murvin,
Sam Rivers,
Fad Gadget,
The Buckinghams,
The Stooges,
ABBA,
The Velvet Underground,
Hashim,
Glenn Branca,
Amazonics,
Howard Jones, Howard Jones, Howard Jones, Howard Jones.
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.