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 Antigua and from Mexico City.
But I was there.
I was there in 1970.
I was there at the first Onyeabor show in Enugu.
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 1960 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Spokane and Salvador.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Mexico City 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 1971 at the first Big Star practice in a loft in Memphis.
I was working on the theremin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Pole to the jazz 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 Ajijia Myrayebe. All the underground hits.
All Big Daddy Kane tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Sisters of Mercy record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash 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 theremin and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Zero Boys record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Pylon,
Unrelated Segments,
X-Ray Spex,
E-Dancer,
Todd Rundgren,
David Axelrod,
The Names,
The Trojans,
The Music Machine,
Newcleus,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Howard Jones,
The Last Poets,
Vainqueur,
Absolute Body Control,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Janne Schatter,
Robert Hood,
Yellowson,
Symarip,
Nico,
Henry Cow,
Fad Gadget,
Monolake,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Judy Mowatt,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
UT,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Ornette Coleman,
Maleditus Sound,
The Slackers,
June Days,
Tom Boy,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
The Smiths,
Grandmaster Flash,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Barrington Levy,
Magma,
Barclay James Harvest,
Television Personalities,
Public Image Ltd.,
Kurtis Blow,
Mo-Dettes,
Tears for Fears,
Minutemen,
Desert Stars,
The Misunderstood,
Au Pairs,
Flipper,
Wire,
Albert Ayler,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Blancmange,
Althea and Donna,
Mary Jane Girls,
Pharoah Sanders,
Oblivians, Oblivians, Oblivians, Oblivians.
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.