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 South Africa and from Accra.
But I was there.
I was there in 1983.
I was there at the first Art of Noise show in London.
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 1962 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Jakarta and Stockholm.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Bologna 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 organ sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Harpers Bizarre to the rock kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Visage. All the underground hits.
All Chrome tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every KRS-One record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Judy Mowatt record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Smiths,
Ten City,
Max Romeo,
The Kinks,
The Misunderstood,
Jeff Mills,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Amon Düül,
DJ Style,
Joyce Sims,
The Detroit Cobras,
The Dead C,
UT,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Barclay James Harvest,
The Martian,
Connie Case,
Marvin Gaye,
Ken Boothe,
Barry Ungar,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Eddi Front,
The Fire Engines,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Essential Logic,
Zapp,
Lou Christie,
Scan 7,
Faust,
Dead Boys,
Josef K,
Marmalade,
Lower 48,
Eli Mardock,
Reuben Wilson,
Arcadia,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
EPMD,
Sam Rivers,
Dawn Penn,
Guru Guru,
Visage,
Flash Fearless,
The Index,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
Bill Wells,
Graham Central Station,
Jawbox,
Patti Smith,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
Ponytail,
E-Dancer,
Darondo,
Negative Approach,
Niagra,
Outsiders,
Tropical Tobacco,
The Blackbyrds,
Fugazi,
Ronnie Foster,
Kaleidoscope,
Mars,
Crispian St. Peters, Crispian St. Peters, Crispian St. Peters, Crispian St. Peters.
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.