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 Guyana and from Houston.
But I was there.
I was there in 1978.
I was there at the first Visage 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 1960 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bologna and Shanghai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manila 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 808 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 Marvin Gaye to the electroclash kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Rakim. All the underground hits.
All Gong tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Piero Umiliani record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge 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 theremin and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Wake record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Black Moon,
June Days,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Flamin' Groovies,
Letta Mbulu,
Crispy Ambulance,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Sonic Youth,
Sun Ra,
the Human League,
Alison Limerick,
The Red Krayola,
Infiniti,
The Dirtbombs,
The Human League,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Eric Dolphy,
MC5,
Unrelated Segments,
Girls At Our Best!,
Qualms,
Echospace,
Minnie Riperton,
Blossom Toes,
Glambeats Corp.,
Supertramp,
Lucky Dragons,
PIL,
Alphaville,
Ohio Players,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Shoche,
Donny Hathaway,
Minor Threat,
Bauhaus,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Pere Ubu,
Basic Channel,
John Lydon,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Gil Scott Heron,
The Fuzztones,
Das Ding,
Althea and Donna,
Bobby Byrd,
Aural Exciters,
Black Flag,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Patti Smith,
Stockholm Monsters,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Section 25,
Depeche Mode,
The Golliwogs,
Groovy Waters,
Graham Central Station,
Donald Byrd,
R.M.O.,
H. Thieme,
The Count Five,
The Move,
The Residents,
Yusef Lateef, Yusef Lateef, Yusef Lateef, Yusef Lateef.
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.