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 St Lucia and from Lille.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Mistral show in Amsterdam.
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 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Beijing and Lagos.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Delhi 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 chamberlin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 The Monochrome Set 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 Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud. All the underground hits.
All Blake Baxter tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Real Kids 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Guru Guru record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Charles Mingus,
The Moody Blues,
John Holt,
The Martian,
The Cramps,
The Remains,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Al Stewart,
Jeru the Damaja,
Kenny Larkin,
Porter Ricks,
Harry Pussy,
Albert Ayler,
Warsaw,
Dual Sessions,
Black Bananas,
Man Eating Sloth,
The Offenders,
Quando Quango,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
June of 44,
Whodini,
China Crisis,
MDC,
Pylon,
Camron Feat. Memphis Bleek And Beenie Seigel,
Fear,
The Techniques,
Kaleidoscope,
Yazoo,
Gabor Szabo,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Cal Tjader,
FM Einheit,
Neil Young,
Shuggie Otis,
Bobby Sherman,
Derrick Morgan,
Newcleus,
Eurythmics,
X-Ray Spex,
Main Source,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Anthony Braxton,
Big Daddy Kane,
Lalo Schifrin,
Bluetip,
the Sonics,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Chrome,
Franke,
Slick Rick,
Animal Collective,
Magazine,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Model 500,
Desert Stars,
The Durutti Column,
Black Flag,
Tropical Tobacco,
The Alarm Clocks,
The Pop Group,
Bobby Byrd, Bobby Byrd, Bobby Byrd, Bobby Byrd.
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.