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 Sierra Leone and from Winnipeg.
But I was there.
I was there in 1987.
I was there at the first Nirvana show in Seattle.
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 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Seoul and Toronto.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Johannesburg 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 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 Black Dice to the crunk kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Agitation Free. All the underground hits.
All R.M.O. tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Ken Boothe 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an organ and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Rufus Thomas record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Grauzone,
Radio Birdman,
Bill Near,
Letta Mbulu,
Skarface,
New Age Steppers,
Icehouse,
John Cale,
U.S. Maple,
Girls At Our Best!,
DJ Sneak,
Tim Buckley,
Monks,
Half Japanese,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Tears for Fears,
X-101,
The Mojo Men,
New York Dolls,
Max Romeo,
Marine Girls,
The Golliwogs,
Magazine,
Fear,
R.M.O.,
Cybotron,
Alice Coltrane,
The Knickerbockers,
Ultravox,
Ituana,
The Doors,
The Red Krayola,
The J.B.'s,
The Sonics,
June Days,
The Grass Roots,
Grey Daturas,
Hashim,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Hoover,
Fatback Band,
Mandrill,
Idris Muhammad,
Wolf Eyes,
The Gap Band,
The New Christs,
Nas,
Black Bananas,
Terrestrial Tones,
Panda Bear,
Wings,
Country Teasers,
Rod Modell,
Moby Grape,
China Crisis,
Josef K,
The Fuzztones,
Hasil Adkins,
Nation of Ulysses,
Mantronix,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Sonny Sharrock,
Echospace,
The Slits, The Slits, The Slits, The Slits.
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.