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 Honduras and from Cairo.
But I was there.
I was there in 1975.
I was there at the first Throbbing Gristle 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 1963 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Spokane and Mumbai.
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 sitar 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 Louis and Bebe Barron to the techno kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Pulsallama. All the underground hits.
All Joensuu 1685 tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Sunsets and Hearts 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Max Romeo record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
the Germs,
Roger Hodgson,
Soulsonic Force,
Fela Kuti,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Shuggie Otis,
The Leaves,
Maleditus Sound,
Jesper Dahlback,
The Grass Roots,
Curtis Mayfield,
Newcleus,
Roxy Music,
Basic Channel,
Jawbox,
Neil Young,
Bluetip,
F. McDonald,
Yazoo,
Urselle,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
The Invisible,
Ohio Players,
Slave,
Godley & Creme,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Mark Hollis,
Boogie Down Productions,
Tears for Fears,
Technova,
ABC,
Nick Fraelich,
Half Japanese,
Colin Newman,
Anthony Braxton,
The Moody Blues,
Khruangbin,
Severed Heads,
The Moleskins,
This Heat,
Soul Sonic Force,
The Kinks,
Bizarre Inc.,
Kenny Larkin,
Tubeway Army,
Andrew Hill,
Wings,
Rakim,
The Mummies,
The Alarm Clocks,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Barclay James Harvest,
Tommy Roe,
Desert Stars,
The Cure,
Clear Light,
Sound Behaviour,
the Sonics,
The Monks,
Absolute Body Control,
Laurel Aitken,
Cameo,
Aloha Tigers, Aloha Tigers, Aloha Tigers, Aloha Tigers.
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.