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 Comoros and from Paris.
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 1962 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Delhi and Woodstock.
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 theremin 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 Camouflage to the rock 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 Eurythmics. All the underground hits.
All Lakeside tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Negative Approach record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Popol Vuh record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Gun Club,
The J.B.'s,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Model 500,
Pole,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Absolute Body Control,
Crispian St. Peters,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Kevin Saunderson,
Sex Pistols,
Byron Stingily,
Cal Tjader,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
Black Pus,
The Dirtbombs,
Howard Jones,
Gerry Rafferty,
Lalo Schifrin,
the Human League,
Hot Snakes,
Quadrant,
Big Daddy Kane,
Surgeon,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Harmonia,
Piero Umiliani,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
The Litter,
Moby Grape,
OOIOO,
Guru Guru,
Laurel Aitken,
Half Japanese,
Mo-Dettes,
Audionom,
Eden Ahbez,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Duran Duran,
Eric B and Rakim,
The Moody Blues,
AZ,
The Modern Lovers,
Eli Mardock,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
The Pretty Things,
Steve Hackett,
Davy DMX,
Nils Olav,
Suicide,
James White and The Blacks,
Gang Gang Dance,
Skriet,
Pere Ubu,
Sonny Sharrock,
Faust,
June of 44,
Dead Boys,
The Last Poets,
Albert Ayler,
JFA,
Kayak, Kayak, Kayak, Kayak.
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.