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 Guyana and from Sao Paulo.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Mistral show in Amsterdam.
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 1968 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Madrid.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Spokane 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 mellotron sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Todd Rundgren to the techno kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Monks. All the underground hits.
All Rites of Spring tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Angels of Light & Akron/Family record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk 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 mellotron and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Gladiators record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a linndrum.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Throbbing Gristle,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Archie Shepp,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Iggy Pop,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Sam Rivers,
Sugar Minott,
Mark Hollis,
Bronski Beat,
Panda Bear,
Fat Boys,
The Martian,
the Swans,
Sonic Youth,
The Sound,
The Happenings,
The Leaves,
Gang of Four,
The Sonics,
Cecil Taylor,
Jacques Brel,
Kas Product,
Boogie Down Productions,
Marmalade,
Kurtis Blow,
Zapp,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Andrew Hill,
Laurel Aitken,
Pantaleimon,
Bootsy Collins,
Eve St. Jones,
E-Dancer,
T.S.O.L.,
Dual Sessions,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
FM Einheit,
Blake Baxter,
Harry Pussy,
The Slits,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
the Sonics,
Mad Mike,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Patti Smith,
Thompson Twins,
The Standells,
Fad Gadget,
Nils Olav,
The Names,
The Skatalites,
Camron Feat. Memphis Bleek And Beenie Seigel,
Agitation Free,
Alice Coltrane,
Visage,
Cal Tjader,
Rufus Thomas,
Electric Light Orchestra,
The Knickerbockers,
Lungfish, Lungfish, Lungfish, Lungfish.
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.