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 Comoros and from Cairo.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Josef K show in Edinburgh.
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 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and Columbus.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manila 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 oboe sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Beau Brummels to the dance kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Pierre Henry. All the underground hits.
All Frankie Knuckles tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a snare and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Au Pairs record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Zeros,
Laurel Aitken,
Delon & Dalcan,
48th St. Collective,
Siglo XX,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
The Beau Brummels,
Warsaw,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Model 500,
Urselle,
Public Enemy,
Animal Collective,
Maurizio,
Gang of Four,
The Motions,
Ludus,
Hardrive,
Mission of Burma,
Severed Heads,
Big Daddy Kane,
These Immortal Souls,
The Remains,
Rhythm & Sound,
The Golliwogs,
Mantronix,
Magazine,
Peter and Kerry,
The Five Americans,
Warren Ellis,
PIL,
Suicide,
The Fortunes,
Crispian St. Peters,
Jeff Mills,
The Neon Judgement,
Rosa Yemen,
Grauzone,
The Blackbyrds,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
John Cale,
The New Christs,
Lou Christie,
Alton Ellis,
Brick,
Dorothy Ashby,
Yusef Lateef,
The Pop Group,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
the Association,
Funkadelic,
Roxette,
David Bowie,
The Monochrome Set,
Infiniti,
Public Image Ltd.,
Rites of Spring,
Kevin Saunderson,
Desert Stars,
Con Funk Shun,
K-Klass,
Oblivians,
Wolf Eyes,
Faraquet, Faraquet, Faraquet, Faraquet.
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.