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 Norway and from Taipei.
But I was there.
I was there in 1984.
I was there at the first Arcadia 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 1967 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tokyo and Houston.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Cairo 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 Donald Fagen 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 Letta Mbulu to the grime 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 Eden Ahbez. All the underground hits.
All The Fuzztones tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Bill Wells 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 '70s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Tropical Tobacco,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Pere Ubu,
The Move,
Jeff Mills,
The Stooges,
Morten Harket,
Arab on Radar,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Suicide,
Radio Birdman,
Flash Fearless,
Angry Samoans,
June Days,
Brothers Johnson,
Pagans,
Country Joe & The Fish,
The Searchers,
Amazonics,
Aaron Thompson,
Royal Trux,
Connie Case,
The Human League,
Pussy Galore,
Kerri Chandler,
Jandek,
The Red Krayola,
Intrusion,
Sällskapet,
Dual Sessions,
The Birthday Party,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Mission of Burma,
The J.B.'s,
Khruangbin,
The Skatalites,
LL Cool J,
Archie Shepp,
Stereo Dub,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Byron Stingily,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
The Dave Clark Five,
Derrick May,
Silicon Teens,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Max Romeo,
Judy Mowatt,
The Litter,
Curtis Mayfield,
Fat Boys,
The Pop Group,
Lungfish,
the Fania All-Stars,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Kurtis Blow,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Slick Rick,
Alice Coltrane,
Hot Snakes,
the Association, the Association, the Association, the Association.
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.