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 Kazakhstan and from Bremen.
But I was there.
I was there in 1967.
I was there at the first Rodriguez show in Detroit.
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 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manchester and Tehran.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Milan 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 arpeggiator 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 Bang on a Can All-Stars to the grunge kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Radiopuhelimet 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 funk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a rhodes and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Television Personalities record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Cal Tjader,
The Gap Band,
The Knickerbockers,
Matthew Bourne,
The Beau Brummels,
Tears for Fears,
The Fuzztones,
Wolf Eyes,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Skaos,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
June Days,
Joy Division,
The Vogues,
Kurtis Blow,
The Litter,
Boogie Down Productions,
Alice Coltrane,
Unwound,
The Names,
Kerri Chandler,
Aural Exciters,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Sun City Girls,
Big Daddy Kane,
The Raincoats,
Franke,
Harry Pussy,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
The Birthday Party,
Gang Gang Dance,
cv313,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
The Techniques,
Negative Approach,
The Black Dice,
the Association,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Erykah Badu,
Sonny Sharrock,
R.M.O.,
Morten Harket,
Easy Going,
Gerry Rafferty,
The New Christs,
Moby Grape,
John Lydon,
Bizarre Inc.,
Clear Light,
Mark Hollis,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Dorothy Ashby,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Andrew Hill,
Skarface,
Rekid,
Glambeats Corp.,
Pierre Henry,
Pet Shop Boys, Pet Shop Boys, Pet Shop Boys, Pet Shop Boys.
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.