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 Zimbabwe and from Madrid.
But I was there.
I was there in 1975.
I was there at the first Ubu show in Cleveland.
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 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lyon and Stockholm.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Hong Kong 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 arpeggiator 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 Byron Stingily to the crunk kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Swans. All the underground hits.
All Jimmy McGriff tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Goldenarms record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a chamberlin and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Underground Resistance record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Slackers,
Index,
Chris & Cosey,
The Sound,
Godley & Creme,
Mission of Burma,
OOIOO,
Lyres,
Fad Gadget,
the Normal,
The Count Five,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Agitation Free,
The Gap Band,
The Knickerbockers,
Zapp,
The Buckinghams,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Surgeon,
Black Flag,
Todd Terry,
Rites of Spring,
Marshall Jefferson,
Dawn Penn,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Marvin Gaye,
Stereo Dub,
Ultra Naté,
Das Ding,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Half Japanese,
Unwound,
Arcadia,
The Cowsills,
Maurizio,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Supertramp,
Big Daddy Kane,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Don Cherry,
Vladislav Delay,
Altered Images,
Leonard Cohen,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Hardrive,
E-Dancer,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Susan Cadogan,
Monks,
Make Up,
the Germs,
Country Teasers,
Sam Rivers,
Eurythmics,
Warsaw,
the Human League,
Oneida,
Wire,
Crispian St. Peters,
Crooked Eye,
Mandrill,
Kerri Chandler,
The Walker Brothers,
One Last Wish, One Last Wish, One Last Wish, One Last Wish.
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.