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 Antigua and from Milan.
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 1964 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Delhi and Taipei.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Taipei 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 organ sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Barbara Tucker to the jazz 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 Thompson Twins. All the underground hits.
All Buzzcocks tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Pylon 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 808 and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Amon Düül record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Drive Like Jehu,
Television,
Jacques Brel,
Iggy Pop,
The Music Machine,
John Cale,
Depeche Mode,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Bauhaus,
Mantronix,
Aaron Thompson,
Idris Muhammad,
F. McDonald,
The Angels of Light,
K-Klass,
Jeru the Damaja,
Cluster,
Connie Case,
Stetsasonic,
Erykah Badu,
Boz Scaggs,
Moebius,
Sonic Youth,
Soul II Soul,
X-Ray Spex,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
The Monochrome Set,
Cecil Taylor,
Altered Images,
Frankie Knuckles,
Can,
The Victims,
The Cowsills,
Monks,
The Cure,
Camberwell Now,
Electric Prunes,
Audionom,
Max Romeo,
Deakin,
Ultra Naté,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
The Moleskins,
Easy Going,
Dennis Brown,
Main Source,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Eric Copeland,
Kayak,
Pere Ubu,
Outsiders,
Jimmy McGriff,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Lou Christie,
Dave Gahan,
The Walker Brothers,
Zapp,
Yellowson,
The Alarm Clocks,
Radiopuhelimet,
Minny Pops, Minny Pops, Minny Pops, Minny Pops.
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.