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 Armenia and from Mumbai.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Neu! show in Düsseldorf.
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 1966 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Beijing and Bremen.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Sun Ra Arkestra to the crunk kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 The Flesh Eaters. All the underground hits.
All Sight & Sound tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Invisible record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a snare and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Bobby Womack record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Charles Mingus,
The J.B.'s,
Flamin' Groovies,
Black Moon,
Mars,
The Golliwogs,
Barbara Tucker,
Bill Near,
K-Klass,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Moby Grape,
The Martian,
Deadbeat,
Camron Feat. Jay Z And Juelz,
Organ,
Byron Stingily,
X-102,
Deepchord,
Sugar Minott,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Bauhaus,
Cecil Taylor,
Rod Modell,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Delta 5,
The Fall,
The Skatalites,
Gerry Rafferty,
Darondo,
The Fire Engines,
Donald Byrd,
Dark Day,
Quadrant,
Theoretical Girls,
Soft Machine,
Bang On A Can,
Dorothy Ashby,
Pantaleimon,
The Seeds,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
The Cowsills,
Average White Band,
Brass Construction,
Mary Jane Girls,
Scratch Acid,
Camouflage,
Kas Product,
The Gladiators,
La Düsseldorf,
Sam Rivers,
Grandmaster Flash,
The Modern Lovers,
The Doobie Brothers,
Roy Ayers,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Rekid,
DNA,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Juan Atkins,
Ten City,
The Victims,
Dawn Penn,
Quando Quango, Quando Quango, Quando Quango, Quando Quango.
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.