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 Canada and from Accra.
But I was there.
I was there in 1970.
I was there at the first Onyeabor show in Enugu.
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 1966 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manila and Manila.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Edmonton 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 1980 at the first Cybotron practice in a loft in Detroit.
I was working on the theremin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Nation of Ulysses to the crunk 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 Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog. All the underground hits.
All H. Thieme tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every the Sonics record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Alarm Clocks record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Fat Boys,
Maleditus Sound,
Rekid,
Lower 48,
Gang Gang Dance,
Subhumans,
Max Romeo,
Terrestrial Tones,
The Beau Brummels,
Big Daddy Kane,
ABC,
John Lydon,
Absolute Body Control,
Judy Mowatt,
Grandmaster Flash,
MC5,
Nick Fraelich,
JFA,
PIL,
Moebius,
Gang Starr,
Blake Baxter,
Flamin' Groovies,
Electric Prunes,
Ultimate Spinach,
The Offenders,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
World's Most,
The Seeds,
Pagans,
Half Japanese,
Parry Music,
The Vogues,
The Associates,
Funky Four + One,
Joy Division,
Pere Ubu,
The Happenings,
The Names,
Lebanon Hanover,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Lakeside,
Graham Central Station,
ABBA,
Symarip,
The Litter,
Colin Newman,
Lyres,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
F. McDonald,
The Durutti Column,
The Real Kids,
Arcadia,
Blancmange,
Icehouse,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
The Doors,
The Music Machine,
Schoolly D, Schoolly D, Schoolly D, Schoolly D.
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.