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 Australia and from Lille.
But I was there.
I was there in 1973.
I was there at the first Television show in New York.
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 1965 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Columbus and Tokyo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Beijing 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 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 Pantaleimon to the electroclash 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 Peter & Gordon. All the underground hits.
All The Searchers tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Scratch Acid 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 theremin and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Dual Sessions record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
The Red Krayola,
Byron Stingily,
Nik Kershaw,
the Swans,
Spoonie Gee,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Half Japanese,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Symarip,
Whodini,
The Mojo Men,
Warsaw,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Bush Tetras,
Derrick May,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Monolake,
Aaron Thompson,
Electric Prunes,
Cal Tjader,
Todd Rundgren,
Rosa Yemen,
Flipper,
Surgeon,
Pantytec,
These Immortal Souls,
Wally Richardson,
The Modern Lovers,
Gichy Dan,
Barry Ungar,
The Misunderstood,
Lakeside,
Barclay James Harvest,
Sparks,
Audionom,
Funky Four + One,
Black Bananas,
The Kinks,
Massinfluence,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Ronnie Foster,
Alphaville,
The Residents,
The Gun Club,
Crash Course in Science,
The Moleskins,
The Happenings,
Scion,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Rites of Spring,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Panda Bear,
Bobby Sherman,
ABBA,
Sarah Menescal,
Josef K,
The Pretty Things, The Pretty Things, The Pretty Things, The Pretty Things.
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.