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 Netherlands and from Houston.
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 1963 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manila and Portland.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Johannesburg 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 1977 at the first Zapp practice in a loft in Hamilton.
I was working on the theremin 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 Rhythm & Sound to the dance kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Letta Mbulu. All the underground hits.
All The Fuzztones tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Barbara Tucker 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 '90s.
I hear you're buying a linndrum and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Sound record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Smog,
Kenny Larkin,
MC5,
K-Klass,
The Golliwogs,
Ornette Coleman,
Rufus Thomas,
Ultravox,
Scratch Acid,
ABBA,
Boogie Down Productions,
the Bar-Kays,
Radiohead,
Minny Pops,
Faraquet,
Shoche,
Niagra,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Eddi Front,
EPMD,
Deadbeat,
Pantaleimon,
The Alarm Clocks,
Angry Samoans,
Morten Harket,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
The Doobie Brothers,
Mission of Burma,
Minutemen,
MDC,
Khruangbin,
Albert Ayler,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
AZ,
Black Moon,
The Martian,
The Cowsills,
Sun City Girls,
Joe Finger,
Gil Scott Heron,
Derrick May,
These Immortal Souls,
Lou Reed,
Main Source,
The Zeros,
The Electric Prunes,
The Stooges,
Neu!,
The Victims,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Warren Ellis,
Gong,
Davy DMX,
Lucky Dragons,
Ossler,
Accadde A,
Chris & Cosey,
Scion,
The Red Krayola,
Pulsallama,
James White and The Blacks,
Robert Görl, Robert Görl, Robert Görl, Robert Görl.
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.