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 Guyana and from Seoul.
But I was there.
I was there in 1975.
I was there at the first Throbbing Gristle show in London.
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 1965 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manila and Milan.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Columbus 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 synthesizer sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Connie Case to the funk kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Harmonia. All the underground hits.
All The Doors tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Newcleus record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The United States of America record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Wally Richardson,
The Cramps,
Jacques Brel,
Warren Ellis,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Radiohead,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Bootsy Collins,
Cymande,
Amon Düül II,
Mars,
Avey Tare,
Scion,
Soft Cell,
Glenn Branca,
The Sound,
Laurel Aitken,
Eric B and Rakim,
Ituana,
Erykah Badu,
Roxy Music,
Funkadelic,
Malaria!,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Curtis Mayfield,
ABBA,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Soulsonic Force,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Pierre Henry,
Ten City,
Skarface,
Saccharine Trust,
The Kinks,
The Cure,
Guru Guru,
Livin' Joy,
The Walker Brothers,
Delon & Dalcan,
The Fuzztones,
The Pretty Things,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Man Eating Sloth,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Nas,
Young Marble Giants,
Stetsasonic,
Can,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Unwound,
A Certain Ratio,
Sandy B,
Brothers Johnson,
Crash Course in Science,
The Barracudas,
Kas Product,
Agitation Free,
Minutemen,
Maleditus Sound,
Black Sheep,
Grandmaster Flash, Grandmaster Flash, Grandmaster Flash, Grandmaster Flash.
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.