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 East Timor and from Winnipeg.
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 1960 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Madrid and Portland.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Beijing 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 linndrum sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Sugar Minott to the crunk 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 Strawberry Alarm Clock. All the underground hits.
All Swans tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Godley & Creme 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a snare and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The J.B.'s record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Electric Prunes,
Y Pants,
Visage,
Bronski Beat,
Alton Ellis,
The Seeds,
the Swans,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
David Axelrod,
The Blues Magoos,
Severed Heads,
Nation of Ulysses,
Panda Bear,
Black Sheep,
Ronan,
The Dead C,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
The Pretty Things,
Cameo,
The Victims,
Althea and Donna,
Janne Schatter,
Marshall Jefferson,
Marine Girls,
The Mummies,
Stetsasonic,
Glenn Branca,
Lucky Dragons,
Boz Scaggs,
Aswad,
Inner City,
The Searchers,
Blake Baxter,
Aaron Thompson,
Slick Rick,
Josef K,
Derrick Morgan,
The Motions,
Jesper Dahlback,
H. Thieme,
Ronnie Foster,
The Standells,
The Divine Comedy,
John Lydon,
Intrusion,
New Age Steppers,
Interpol,
Fear,
Eddi Front,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
The Monochrome Set,
Sonny Sharrock,
Franke,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Derrick May,
Pulsallama,
Dual Sessions,
Nick Fraelich,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
The Pop Group,
Robert Hood, Robert Hood, Robert Hood, Robert Hood.
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.