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 Argentina and from Glasgow.
But I was there.
I was there in 1987.
I was there at the first Nirvana show in Seattle.
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 1961 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tokyo and Delhi.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 organ sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Alphaville to the disco 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 Lalo Schifrin. All the underground hits.
All Essential Logic tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Drexciya 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Eric Dolphy record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Silicon Teens,
Banda Bassotti,
Freddie Wadling,
Talk Talk,
Mary Jane Girls,
Metal Thangz,
Model 500,
Urselle,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
R.M.O.,
Fugazi,
Warsaw,
Derrick Morgan,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Circle Jerks,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
The Five Americans,
Fad Gadget,
Public Enemy,
Reuben Wilson,
Eric B and Rakim,
The Monks,
Kool Moe Dee,
Barry Ungar,
Arab on Radar,
Rosa Yemen,
Yaz,
Negative Approach,
Severed Heads,
The Index,
Guru Guru,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
A Certain Ratio,
Sonic Youth,
Joyce Sims,
Robert Görl,
Ultra Naté,
Malaria!,
The Seeds,
Adolescents,
The Knickerbockers,
Spoonie Gee,
Swell Maps,
Soft Cell,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
The Happenings,
Animal Collective,
These Immortal Souls,
The Trojans,
Lyres,
Gang Gang Dance,
The Residents,
Lebanon Hanover,
The Velvet Underground,
Swans,
CMW,
The Gun Club,
Althea and Donna,
Crime,
Todd Terry,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Joe Smooth, Joe Smooth, Joe Smooth, Joe Smooth.
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.