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 Ghana and from New York.
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 1968 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Salvador and Glasgow.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Cairo 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 1975 at the first Ubu practice in a loft in Cleveland.
I was working on the harpsichord sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Althea and Donna to the jazz 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 Strawberry Alarm Clock. All the underground hits.
All Steve Hackett tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Reagan Youth 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an organ and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Lafayette Afro Rock Band record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Soft Cell,
the Association,
Dave Gahan,
Pantaleimon,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Gang Starr,
Schoolly D,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Suicide,
The Birthday Party,
The Moleskins,
LL Cool J,
The Shadows of Knight,
The Count Five,
The Victims,
Aaron Thompson,
the Bar-Kays,
X-101,
Jesper Dahlback,
The Buckinghams,
Rites of Spring,
Con Funk Shun,
DJ Style,
Mo-Dettes,
Don Cherry,
The Zeros,
Urselle,
Oblivians,
Vladislav Delay,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Bobby Sherman,
48th St. Collective,
Bronski Beat,
The Invisible,
EPMD,
Easy Going,
John Cale,
Kas Product,
Interpol,
The Beau Brummels,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Electric Prunes,
Pulsallama,
Can,
Gang Green,
Ultimate Spinach,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
The Detroit Cobras,
Young Marble Giants,
Theoretical Girls,
Agent Orange,
Essential Logic,
The Red Krayola,
Black Sheep,
Gong,
JFA,
This Heat,
Liliput,
Maleditus Sound,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Radio Birdman,
Johnny Osbourne,
New York Dolls, New York Dolls, New York Dolls, New York Dolls.
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.