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 Pakistan and from Bremen.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Feelies show in Haledon.
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 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Madrid and Taipei.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Edmonton 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 theremin 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 Second Layer to the techno kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud. All the underground hits.
All Harmonia tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Das Ding record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock 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 theremin and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Eric B and Rakim record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a spring reverb.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Theoretical Girls,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Soulsonic Force,
The Mummies,
Silicon Teens,
Essential Logic,
Groovy Waters,
Unwound,
Stockholm Monsters,
Fat Boys,
Quadrant,
Hoover,
Morten Harket,
Soft Cell,
David McCallum,
Skriet,
Toni Rubio,
Model 500,
Nico,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
Crime,
The Dirtbombs,
The Seeds,
10cc,
Scion,
T.S.O.L.,
Wire,
Roger Hodgson,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Blake Baxter,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Donny Hathaway,
Neil Young,
Cymande,
The Techniques,
Sixth Finger,
Aswad,
Oblivians,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Accadde A,
X-101,
Kool Moe Dee,
Bluetip,
Niagra,
Prince Buster,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Bad Manners,
Curtis Mayfield,
the Sonics,
Guru Guru,
Dorothy Ashby,
Technova,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Dawn Penn,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Dennis Brown,
Ituana,
The Durutti Column,
The Red Krayola,
Laurel Aitken, Laurel Aitken, Laurel Aitken, Laurel Aitken.
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.