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 Bulgaria and from Houston.
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 1960 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lille and Taipei.
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 mellotron 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 Technova to the grunge kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Ash Ra Tempel. All the underground hits.
All The Barracudas 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 grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Albert Ayler,
Chris Corsano,
Sugar Minott,
Ralphi Rosario,
Fad Gadget,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Shuggie Otis,
The Flesh Eaters,
Mission of Burma,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
The Red Krayola,
Joensuu 1685,
Joe Smooth,
Fugazi,
Nick Fraelich,
Tears for Fears,
Chrome,
The Invisible,
Scratch Acid,
L. Decosne,
Echospace,
AZ,
Q and Not U,
The Stooges,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Zapp,
the Slits,
Bang On A Can,
Marcia Griffiths,
Dead Boys,
Alice Coltrane,
Soulsonic Force,
Pere Ubu,
Joyce Sims,
Dawn Penn,
Agent Orange,
Terrestrial Tones,
Panda Bear,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Young Marble Giants,
Nation of Ulysses,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Blake Baxter,
Lucky Dragons,
Yusef Lateef,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Deakin,
Brick,
Radiohead,
Das Ding,
Derrick Morgan,
Eddi Front,
Traffic Nightmare,
Electric Prunes,
Sight & Sound,
E-Dancer, E-Dancer, E-Dancer, E-Dancer.
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.