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 Ecuador and from Johannesburg.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Neu! show in Düsseldorf.
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 Beijing and Lagos.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lyon 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 Donald Fagen 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 Grandmaster Flash to the disco kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Angry Samoans. All the underground hits.
All The Cure tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Bang on a Can All-Stars record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Cecil Taylor record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Remains,
The Red Krayola,
The Grass Roots,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Junior Murvin,
Idris Muhammad,
Barrington Levy,
Janne Schatter,
Zapp,
Terry Callier,
Half Japanese,
Pulsallama,
Das Ding,
Tropical Tobacco,
Pet Shop Boys,
Franke,
The Birthday Party,
A Certain Ratio,
Jeff Mills,
The Velvet Underground,
Judy Mowatt,
Tom Boy,
Archie Shepp,
Flipper,
Monks,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Alton Ellis,
Leonard Cohen,
Heaven 17,
Laurel Aitken,
Arab on Radar,
Sonic Youth,
Public Image Ltd.,
The Tremeloes,
8 Eyed Spy,
Bootsy Collins,
The Sound,
Little Man,
Wings,
Echospace,
John Foxx,
Severed Heads,
Tears for Fears,
Cheater Slicks,
Audionom,
U.S. Maple,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Talk Talk,
Man Eating Sloth,
cv313,
Main Source,
Soul Sonic Force,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
D'Angelo,
T.S.O.L.,
Ronnie Foster,
Sun City Girls,
Peter and Kerry,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
L. Decosne,
Black Moon, Black Moon, Black Moon, Black Moon.
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.