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 Costa Rica and from Lagos.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Big Star show in Memphis.
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 1961 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Portland and Beijing.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lyon 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 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 Q65 to the techno kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Arcadia. All the underground hits.
All the Normal tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Techniques record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an organ and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Leaves record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Slackers,
The Techniques,
Blancmange,
Drive Like Jehu,
Grey Daturas,
Boz Scaggs,
The Human League,
The Doobie Brothers,
The Gap Band,
Joe Finger,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Jesper Dahlback,
Josef K,
Thee Headcoats,
The Blackbyrds,
Siglo XX,
The Barracudas,
Quantec,
cv313,
David McCallum,
Juan Atkins,
Eddi Front,
Dead Boys,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Quando Quango,
Jeru the Damaja,
Fat Boys,
Bauhaus,
Youth Brigade,
Alice Coltrane,
Arcadia,
Main Source,
Robert Görl,
the Normal,
Eric Dolphy,
T. Rex,
Leonard Cohen,
Suicide,
John Lydon,
Cymande,
Wally Richardson,
Severed Heads,
The Fugs,
Bill Wells,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Minny Pops,
The Tremeloes,
Buzzcocks,
John Foxx,
The Modern Lovers,
Subhumans,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Rod Modell,
John Holt,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
OOIOO,
Stetsasonic,
Heaven 17, Heaven 17, Heaven 17, Heaven 17.
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.