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 Morocco and from Beijing.
But I was there.
I was there in 1975.
I was there at the first Throbbing Gristle 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 1965 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lille and Tehran.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Portland 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 arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 The Standells 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 Graham Central Station. All the underground hits.
All Charles Mingus tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Rhythm & Sound 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a snare and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Darondo record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Johnny Clarke,
Prince Buster,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Gichy Dan,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Lee Hazlewood,
Fatback Band,
Robert Hood,
Harpers Bizarre,
Popol Vuh,
The Cure,
The Residents,
Little Man,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Vainqueur,
Moebius,
Smog,
Ultimate Spinach,
Faraquet,
The American Breed,
Half Japanese,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Pere Ubu,
June of 44,
John Lydon,
One Last Wish,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Sandy B,
Godley & Creme,
June Days,
Public Enemy,
Pierre Henry,
The Last Poets,
Sparks,
Tom Boy,
Matthew Halsall,
Idris Muhammad,
The Black Dice,
Bush Tetras,
Nation of Ulysses,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Babytalk,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Wally Richardson,
Pole,
the Sonics,
Dorothy Ashby,
48th St. Collective,
Mo-Dettes,
Cameo,
Excepter,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Gang Green,
The Victims,
Kayak,
Scientists,
Gregory Isaacs,
Hardrive,
Alphaville,
It's A Beautiful Day,
a-ha,
The Fortunes, The Fortunes, The Fortunes, The Fortunes.
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.