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 Liechtenstein and from Stockholm.
But I was there.
I was there in 1978.
I was there at the first Visage show in London.
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 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Beijing and Lyon.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Salvador 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 oboe 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 Sun Ra to the rock kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Inner City. All the underground hits.
All Sister Nancy tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Be Bop Deluxe record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Blues Magoos record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Prince Buster,
CMW,
KRS-One,
Pussy Galore,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Marshall Jefferson,
Harry Pussy,
Cecil Taylor,
Subhumans,
Lyres,
Popol Vuh,
The Music Machine,
Porter Ricks,
The Pop Group,
ABBA,
Curtis Mayfield,
the Slits,
June Days,
Fear,
Derrick May,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Todd Rundgren,
Stetsasonic,
The Five Americans,
Sonic Youth,
the Soft Cell,
Pierre Henry,
Morten Harket,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Kurtis Blow,
Althea and Donna,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Freddie Wadling,
Tomorrow,
Procol Harum,
Camberwell Now,
Boogie Down Productions,
Blake Baxter,
Au Pairs,
Wasted Youth,
Ludus,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Q and Not U,
Danielle Patucci,
The Mighty Diamonds,
X-Ray Spex,
Alison Limerick,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
Silicon Teens,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Simply Red,
Nas,
Hardrive,
Bobby Womack,
The Slackers,
Bang On A Can,
Alphaville,
Quando Quango,
Pantaleimon,
The Pretty Things, The Pretty Things, The Pretty Things, The Pretty Things.
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.