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 Marshall Islands and from Lagos.
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 Tokyo and Columbus.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Tehran 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 Lou Reed 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 Lightning Bolt to the disco 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 Ronnie Foster. All the underground hits.
All Dawn Penn tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Youth Brigade record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock 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 snare and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Nick Fraelich record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Harpers Bizarre,
The Barracudas,
OOIOO,
Dave Gahan,
The J.B.'s,
The Standells,
Althea and Donna,
Lindisfarne,
Gichy Dan,
The Smoke,
Minutemen,
Quantec,
The Doobie Brothers,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Dorothy Ashby,
ABC,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
The Music Machine,
Glambeats Corp.,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Bootsy Collins,
Underground Resistance,
Aural Exciters,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Icehouse,
Marcia Griffiths,
The Trojans,
Schoolly D,
Ultimate Spinach,
Malaria!,
Basic Channel,
The Grass Roots,
Whodini,
Camouflage,
John Coltrane,
Essential Logic,
Tubeway Army,
Los Fastidios,
The Modern Lovers,
Harry Pussy,
John Holt,
Ralphi Rosario,
The Buckinghams,
Gang Gang Dance,
Henry Cow,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Jesper Dahlback,
The Gories,
CMW,
Terrestrial Tones,
Crispy Ambulance,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Kerri Chandler,
Black Sheep,
Brothers Johnson,
Nico,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Jeff Mills,
Porter Ricks,
Sister Nancy,
The Skatalites, The Skatalites, The Skatalites, The Skatalites.
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.