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 Sudan and from Columbus.
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 1965 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manchester and Accra.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 at the first Suicide practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the harpsichord 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 La Düsseldorf to the funk kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Faraquet. All the underground hits.
All Siouxsie and the Banshees tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Magazine record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Fort Wilson Riot record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Mummies,
The Techniques,
The Busters,
Joyce Sims,
Wire,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Morten Harket,
Matthew Bourne,
Q and Not U,
the Swans,
Hardrive,
Easy Going,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Severed Heads,
Hot Snakes,
Pharoah Sanders,
Colin Newman,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Camberwell Now,
Skaos,
Arcadia,
MC5,
Quando Quango,
The Slackers,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
The Move,
Fatback Band,
Bobby Byrd,
Johnny Osbourne,
The Zeros,
Buzzcocks,
The Fuzztones,
Jacob Miller,
Absolute Body Control,
Public Image Ltd.,
Aloha Tigers,
Man Eating Sloth,
Soft Machine,
Neil Young,
Eddi Front,
Bush Tetras,
Harmonia,
The Moody Blues,
The Detroit Cobras,
Byron Stingily,
Peter and Kerry,
Theoretical Girls,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Laurel Aitken,
Echospace,
Bobby Sherman,
Glambeats Corp.,
Gerry Rafferty,
The Litter,
Qualms,
Dual Sessions,
Reagan Youth,
Pulsallama,
The Human League,
The Victims,
The Fugs, The Fugs, The Fugs, The Fugs.
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.