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 Kiribati and from Lille.
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 1965 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manila and London.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Delhi 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 harpsichord sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Sisters of Mercy to the grunge 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 Kayak. All the underground hits.
All Kool G Rap & DJ Polo tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Searchers record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a mellotron and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Danielle Patucci record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Malaria!,
Youth Brigade,
Dark Day,
The Cure,
Jimmy McGriff,
The Standells,
Leonard Cohen,
Gong,
Soft Machine,
Nirvana,
The Selecter,
Crash Course in Science,
Black Sheep,
Lou Christie,
Main Source,
Curtis Mayfield,
Gil Scott Heron,
the Swans,
Jeff Lynne,
Young Marble Giants,
Ronan,
The Sonics,
The Dead C,
Black Moon,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
UT,
Flash Fearless,
Bronski Beat,
James White and The Blacks,
Kurtis Blow,
ABBA,
The Angels of Light,
Rites of Spring,
Arthur Verocai,
The Move,
The Modern Lovers,
The J.B.'s,
Joe Finger,
Little Man,
The Zeros,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Severed Heads,
The Vogues,
Hardrive,
the Normal,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Anthony Braxton,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
John Holt,
The Names,
The Saints,
Groovy Waters,
Amon Düül,
Rapeman,
Bush Tetras,
Dave Gahan,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Circle Jerks,
Fifty Foot Hose, Fifty Foot Hose, Fifty Foot Hose, Fifty Foot Hose.
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.