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 Cuba and from Mexico City.
But I was there.
I was there in 1983.
I was there at the first Art of Noise show in London.
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 1961 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manila and Sao Paulo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 organ 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 The Victims to the techno kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Teenage Jesus and the Jerks. All the underground hits.
All Oneida tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Easy Going 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Scott Walker + Sunn O))) record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Count Five,
Kerri Chandler,
The Grass Roots,
Sarah Menescal,
The Monochrome Set,
David McCallum,
Echospace,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Agitation Free,
Henry Cow,
DJ Style,
Scott Walker,
K-Klass,
Peter & Gordon,
10cc,
Idris Muhammad,
Organ,
DNA,
David Axelrod,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
New Age Steppers,
Rod Modell,
Skriet,
Television Personalities,
Soul II Soul,
The Misunderstood,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Marc Almond,
Flamin' Groovies,
The Names,
Joey Negro,
Drexciya,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Quantec,
Symarip,
Bluetip,
The Alarm Clocks,
The Young Rascals,
The Martian,
Arab on Radar,
The Cramps,
Oneida,
Donny Hathaway,
Terrestrial Tones,
Glenn Branca,
Aloha Tigers,
The Doors,
Grauzone,
Johnny Osbourne,
The Fortunes,
Moss Icon,
Girls At Our Best!,
Bauhaus,
Rekid,
World's Most,
Faust,
Boogie Down Productions,
Franke,
Malaria!,
Guru Guru,
T.S.O.L., T.S.O.L., T.S.O.L., T.S.O.L..
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.