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 Armenia and from Portland.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Selda show in Istanbul.
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 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Lyon.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Cairo 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 rhodes sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Surgeon to the grunge 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 Infiniti. All the underground hits.
All Sex Pistols tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Black Flag record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Bang on a Can All-Stars record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Vainqueur,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Roxette,
Hot Snakes,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Andrew Hill,
Ralphi Rosario,
Rekid,
Wally Richardson,
Heaven 17,
Ultra Naté,
Massinfluence,
Average White Band,
Silicon Teens,
Maleditus Sound,
The Knickerbockers,
David McCallum,
Robert Hood,
Black Flag,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Steve Hackett,
Gang Starr,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Nas,
Drexciya,
Gastr Del Sol,
Magma,
UT,
Eve St. Jones,
CMW,
ABC,
X-102,
Kurtis Blow,
Cheater Slicks,
Trumans Water,
Surgeon,
Eddi Front,
The Evens,
Traffic Nightmare,
The Smoke,
Joey Negro,
Graham Central Station,
the Fania All-Stars,
Stiv Bators,
Chris Corsano,
Eli Mardock,
Ronnie Foster,
Los Fastidios,
The Doors,
Pere Ubu,
10cc,
Amazonics,
H. Thieme,
D'Angelo,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Stockholm Monsters,
New Age Steppers,
Fat Boys,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Bobby Byrd, Bobby Byrd, Bobby Byrd, Bobby Byrd.
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.