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 China and from Copenhagen.
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 1963 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Winnipeg and Shanghai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lille 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 güiro 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 Magazine to the disco 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 KRS-One. All the underground hits.
All Echospace tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Stereo Dub record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Eli Mardock record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Royal Trux,
Public Enemy,
Livin' Joy,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Davy DMX,
Henry Cow,
Scott Walker,
Delon & Dalcan,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
The Skatalites,
X-101,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
World's Most,
Harmonia,
Crooked Eye,
Lucky Dragons,
Camron Feat. Jay Z And Juelz,
Ken Boothe,
Yusef Lateef,
John Cale,
Neil Young,
Arcadia,
Cybotron,
Eli Mardock,
Grandmaster Flash,
Bill Wells,
Grauzone,
T.S.O.L.,
Fela Kuti,
Michelle Simonal,
T. Rex,
Essential Logic,
Dorothy Ashby,
June Days,
Gang of Four,
Ohio Players,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Thee Headcoats,
Nirvana,
Camouflage,
Technova,
EPMD,
Zero Boys,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Deakin,
The Dead C,
Zapp,
Cecil Taylor,
Todd Terry,
Terrestrial Tones,
Minny Pops,
The Velvet Underground,
Byron Stingily,
Black Moon,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Severed Heads,
DJ Sneak,
Q and Not U,
Icehouse, Icehouse, Icehouse, Icehouse.
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.