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 Georgia and from Beijing.
But I was there.
I was there in 1968.
I was there at the first Can show in Cologne.
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 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lille and Shanghai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manchester 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 synthesizer sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Porter Ricks to the funk 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 Archie Shepp. All the underground hits.
All Tom Boy tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Hashim record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap 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 an oboe and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Juan Atkins record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Patti Smith,
Sight & Sound,
cv313,
Mars,
Scratch Acid,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Tomorrow,
Arab on Radar,
The Count Five,
Ultravox,
Visage,
The Kinks,
The Golliwogs,
Television Personalities,
Pole,
The Skatalites,
Grandmaster Flash,
Neu!,
Terrestrial Tones,
OOIOO,
48th St. Collective,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
The Evens,
The Index,
Mary Jane Girls,
Hoover,
The Gun Club,
Marine Girls,
Cymande,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Scott Walker,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Loose Ends,
Byron Stingily,
Negative Approach,
The Standells,
Jeff Lynne,
The Divine Comedy,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Funkadelic,
Accadde A,
Sixth Finger,
The Dead C,
FM Einheit,
Mo-Dettes,
Lee Hazlewood,
Ten City,
Todd Terry,
Skriet,
Alison Limerick,
Lightning Bolt,
Flamin' Groovies,
The Cosmic Jokers,
The Vogues,
John Holt,
Model 500,
Unwound,
Reagan Youth,
MC5,
The Sonics,
Jeff Mills,
Lonnie Liston Smith, Lonnie Liston Smith, Lonnie Liston Smith, Lonnie Liston Smith.
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.