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 the UAE and from Manila.
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 1967 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Winnipeg and Accra.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Tehran 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 1980 at the first Cybotron practice in a loft in Detroit.
I was working on the mellotron sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Sonny Sharrock to the techno kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Young Marble Giants. All the underground hits.
All Loose Ends tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Boz Scaggs record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Nils Olav record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Real Kids,
Ten City,
The Sisters of Mercy,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Piero Umiliani,
Eric Dolphy,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Zero Boys,
Fear,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
L. Decosne,
Idris Muhammad,
Tim Buckley,
Nico,
a-ha,
Los Fastidios,
Sixth Finger,
Ludus,
Reagan Youth,
The J.B.'s,
Surgeon,
Blossom Toes,
Roy Ayers,
The Barracudas,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Stereo Dub,
The Invisible,
Motorama,
Sister Nancy,
Tom Boy,
The Leaves,
The Index,
Con Funk Shun,
Pere Ubu,
Yaz,
Traffic Nightmare,
Eve St. Jones,
Wire,
Absolute Body Control,
Gang Starr,
Godley & Creme,
Eurythmics,
Ice-T,
Guru Guru,
Boredoms,
The Cramps,
Pet Shop Boys,
D'Angelo,
Arcadia,
Archie Shepp,
Delon & Dalcan,
Jeff Lynne,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Leonard Cohen,
John Foxx,
Chris Corsano,
Pylon,
Mo-Dettes,
Nas,
Wings,
Max Romeo,
The Busters, The Busters, The Busters, The Busters.
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.