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 Hungary and from Lagos.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Neu! show in Düsseldorf.
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 1967 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Edmonton and Manchester.
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 oboe 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 Funky Four + One to the techno 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 Davy DMX. All the underground hits.
All Prince Buster tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Rahsaan Roland Kirk record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Bill Wells record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Dual Sessions,
Funky Four + One,
Technova,
Marmalade,
UT,
Swans,
Metal Thangz,
Jacob Miller,
Dawn Penn,
the Normal,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Iggy Pop,
Clear Light,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Joey Negro,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
The Alarm Clocks,
The Vogues,
Amon Düül,
China Crisis,
Black Pus,
Oneida,
DJ Sneak,
The Cowsills,
the Swans,
R.M.O.,
Nation of Ulysses,
The Human League,
Scrapy,
Jandek,
Aaron Thompson,
Nik Kershaw,
Warsaw,
Harmonia,
JFA,
Lebanon Hanover,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Mars,
Laurel Aitken,
Throbbing Gristle,
Glenn Branca,
The Fuzztones,
Skaos,
James White and The Blacks,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
PIL,
Simply Red,
The Pop Group,
Das Ding,
Josef K,
The Modern Lovers,
The Misunderstood,
Fad Gadget,
Oblivians,
Ituana,
Yaz,
The Gories,
Sparks,
Black Moon, Black Moon, Black Moon, Black Moon.
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.