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 Korea North and from Winnipeg.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Buzzcocks show in Bolton.
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 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in New York and Cairo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Johannesburg 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 guitar 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 Eve St. Jones to the electroclash kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Rod Modell. All the underground hits.
All Pet Shop Boys tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Sly & The Family Stone record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno 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 a 808 and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Scott Walker + Sunn O))) record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Scott Walker,
Faust,
Big Daddy Kane,
Oneida,
Ronan,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Tropical Tobacco,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Black Pus,
The Raincoats,
Mission of Burma,
Yusef Lateef,
Swell Maps,
Colin Newman,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Chris Corsano,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Kerrie Biddell,
Danielle Patucci,
Brothers Johnson,
The Associates,
Black Flag,
Public Image Ltd.,
Roger Hodgson,
Eric Dolphy,
The Young Rascals,
Graham Central Station,
The New Christs,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Andrew Hill,
Drexciya,
Mr. Review,
Von Mondo,
Lou Christie,
Laurel Aitken,
OOIOO,
Pylon,
The Saints,
Henry Cow,
Cluster,
The Fire Engines,
Albert Ayler,
Soft Cell,
Gil Scott Heron,
Eddi Front,
The Moody Blues,
The Offenders,
Radiohead,
The Techniques,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Erykah Badu,
Gang Green,
Sugar Minott,
The Zeros,
Cecil Taylor,
UT,
Reuben Wilson,
The Golliwogs,
The Birthday Party,
Eden Ahbez,
Warsaw, Warsaw, Warsaw, Warsaw.
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.