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 Niger and from Taipei.
But I was there.
I was there in 1968.
I was there at the first Bowie show in Bromley.
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 1964 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and Bologna.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Beijing 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 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 Graham Central Station 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 The Offenders. All the underground hits.
All Ajijia Myrayebe tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Associates record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz 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 guitar and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Siglo XX record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
FM Einheit,
The Buckinghams,
Tommy Roe,
Pagans,
Pantytec,
The Count Five,
The Young Rascals,
Amon Düül,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Hot Snakes,
Stiv Bators,
Television,
Jandek,
The Raincoats,
L. Decosne,
Letta Mbulu,
Interpol,
Scion,
Motorama,
Eddi Front,
Wolf Eyes,
D'Angelo,
Monks,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Matthew Halsall,
Grey Daturas,
Q65,
Sister Nancy,
A Certain Ratio,
Throbbing Gristle,
Junior Murvin,
The Pretty Things,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Depeche Mode,
Scratch Acid,
David Axelrod,
Kevin Saunderson,
Can,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Erykah Badu,
Electric Prunes,
The Gap Band,
Lee Hazlewood,
The Slits,
Albert Ayler,
Sun City Girls,
Brand Nubian,
Porter Ricks,
Organ,
The Gun Club,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Drexciya,
The Doobie Brothers,
Slick Rick,
Eli Mardock,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
John Foxx,
The Fortunes,
Oblivians,
Harmonia,
Peter & Gordon,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Au Pairs, Au Pairs, Au Pairs, Au Pairs.
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.