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 Dominica and from Copenhagen.
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 1967 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Halifax and Accra.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Columbus 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 1975 at the first Ubu practice in a loft in Cleveland.
I was working on the 808 sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Aaron Thompson to the dance 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 Organ. All the underground hits.
All Fugazi tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every L. Decosne 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a L. Decosne record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Agent Orange,
The Smiths,
David Bowie,
Dorothy Ashby,
Prince Buster,
Bobby Sherman,
Saccharine Trust,
Procol Harum,
The Saints,
Hashim,
Franke,
The Pop Group,
The Residents,
Neil Young,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Marine Girls,
Bizarre Inc.,
Boredoms,
Slave,
Faust,
Aural Exciters,
Angry Samoans,
Second Layer,
Idris Muhammad,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
The Golliwogs,
Moby Grape,
Intrusion,
Rhythm & Sound,
Parry Music,
The Grass Roots,
Accadde A,
Ludus,
Hasil Adkins,
Lucky Dragons,
The Walker Brothers,
Quadrant,
Robert Hood,
The Dirtbombs,
Janne Schatter,
Easy Going,
Ponytail,
X-101,
Minnie Riperton,
Electric Prunes,
Lyres,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
The Searchers,
The Real Kids,
Sound Behaviour,
Mad Mike,
Morten Harket,
Warren Ellis,
The Fugs,
The Velvet Underground,
Schoolly D,
One Last Wish,
Theoretical Girls,
U.S. Maple,
Darondo,
Nick Fraelich,
The Buckinghams,
Monks, Monks, Monks, Monks.
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.