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 Togo and from Bologna.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Zapp show in Hamilton.
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 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Houston and Philadelphia.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Sao Paulo 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 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 Gian Franco Pienzio to the crunk kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Cabaret Voltaire. All the underground hits.
All Rhythim Is Rhythim tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Glenn Branca record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Underground Resistance record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Suicide,
Lalann,
Q and Not U,
a-ha,
The Pop Group,
Erasure,
R.M.O.,
The Fire Engines,
Morten Harket,
Sugar Minott,
Tommy Roe,
Schoolly D,
The Beau Brummels,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Unwound,
Chris & Cosey,
Lyres,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Minnie Riperton,
Smog,
Fela Kuti,
Scrapy,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Colin Newman,
Cymande,
Gang Green,
Procol Harum,
The Busters,
The Selecter,
Delta 5,
Flipper,
June of 44,
Lou Reed,
Zapp,
Isaac Hayes,
Barbara Tucker,
Harpers Bizarre,
Surgeon,
The Human League,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Sun Ra,
Supertramp,
Sister Nancy,
PIL,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Todd Terry,
Ten City,
Faust,
The Saints,
T. Rex,
The Detroit Cobras,
Sun City Girls,
The Grass Roots,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
The Alarm Clocks,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Scion,
Black Flag,
Ituana,
Junior Murvin,
Ronan,
8 Eyed Spy,
Dark Day, Dark Day, Dark Day, Dark Day.
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.