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 San Marino and from Seoul.
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 1960 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manila and Calgary.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school New York 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 Human League practice in a loft in Sheffield.
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 The Monochrome Set to the grunge kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft. All the underground hits.
All Lonnie Liston Smith tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Minutemen 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a OOIOO record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Bobbi Humphrey,
Alice Coltrane,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Sixth Finger,
Laurel Aitken,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Letta Mbulu,
Neu!,
The Evens,
Freddie Wadling,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Prince Buster,
The Residents,
Parry Music,
Radiopuhelimet,
The Dave Clark Five,
The Pretty Things,
James White and The Blacks,
Von Mondo,
Deepchord,
Maurizio,
Sugar Minott,
Soft Cell,
Sam Rivers,
June Days,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Black Flag,
Motorama,
Tres Demented,
Dual Sessions,
Carl Craig,
Kool Moe Dee,
Swans,
Fat Boys,
June of 44,
Avey Tare,
Brass Construction,
The Happenings,
B.T. Express,
Jandek,
The Modern Lovers,
Smog,
Ronan,
Subhumans,
Ponytail,
Sällskapet,
Ohio Players,
Underground Resistance,
Dawn Penn,
Cal Tjader,
Eric B and Rakim,
Black Pus,
OOIOO,
Eden Ahbez,
The Remains,
The Monks,
Derrick May,
One Last Wish,
Supertramp,
Goldenarms, Goldenarms, Goldenarms, Goldenarms.
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.