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 Burkina and from New York.
But I was there.
I was there in 1975.
I was there at the first Throbbing Gristle 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 1969 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manila and Tokyo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Paris 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 theremin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Terrestrial Tones to the jazz kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Soul II Soul. All the underground hits.
All Jawbox tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Drexciya record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk 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 marimba and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Jesus and Mary Chain record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Fear,
Tres Demented,
Camouflage,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Pierre Henry,
Sister Nancy,
Delta 5,
Juan Atkins,
Graham Central Station,
The Offenders,
Anthony Braxton,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
The Searchers,
Kerri Chandler,
Kaleidoscope,
Saccharine Trust,
The Smiths,
Janne Schatter,
the Fania All-Stars,
Crime,
Gichy Dan,
Faraquet,
Chris & Cosey,
LL Cool J,
Severed Heads,
Aloha Tigers,
John Lydon,
Pole,
Procol Harum,
U.S. Maple,
Sexual Harrassment,
Main Source,
Siglo XX,
The Slits,
Hashim,
Grandmaster Flash,
Nation of Ulysses,
Livin' Joy,
H. Thieme,
Sugar Minott,
The Zeros,
a-ha,
David Axelrod,
Ossler,
The Wake,
Lindisfarne,
Fugazi,
Porter Ricks,
EPMD,
Jerry Gold Smith,
the Normal,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Terry Callier,
Motorama,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Deadbeat,
Jeff Mills,
Lucky Dragons,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
DNA,
Visage, Visage, Visage, Visage.
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.