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 Panama and from Shanghai.
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 1962 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Shanghai and Edmonton.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Paris 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 marimba sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 The Evens to the techno kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Lafayette Afro Rock Band. All the underground hits.
All The Fire Engines tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Bootsy's Rubber Band record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Graham Central Station record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Motions,
Fear,
Excepter,
Eric Copeland,
Godley & Creme,
The Knickerbockers,
Model 500,
The Toasters,
The Count Five,
Sister Nancy,
The Cowsills,
Schoolly D,
Maleditus Sound,
Blake Baxter,
Yellowson,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Nas,
Public Enemy,
the Swans,
James White and The Blacks,
Soul II Soul,
Joey Negro,
Erasure,
Cymande,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
The Divine Comedy,
Average White Band,
Rekid,
Janne Schatter,
Sight & Sound,
Lou Reed,
Barry Ungar,
Audionom,
Von Mondo,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Popol Vuh,
The Young Rascals,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Pierre Henry,
The Buckinghams,
Gregory Isaacs,
Isaac Hayes,
Rotary Connection,
Cybotron,
Camouflage,
James Chance & The Contortions,
R.M.O.,
Bobby Sherman,
Young Marble Giants,
Ludus,
Radio Birdman,
Intrusion,
Kurtis Blow,
Jandek,
CMW,
Hardrive,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Josef K,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Sun Ra,
Throbbing Gristle, Throbbing Gristle, Throbbing Gristle, Throbbing Gristle.
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.