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 Venezuela and from Bremen.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Selda show in Istanbul.
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 1969 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mexico City and Milan.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Cairo 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 snare 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 Donald Byrd to the grunge kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Young Marble Giants. All the underground hits.
All Rufus Thomas tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Tubeway Army record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an organ and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Gong record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
The Seeds,
The Associates,
The Barracudas,
Hoover,
Unrelated Segments,
Ronnie Foster,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
The Tremeloes,
Youth Brigade,
Model 500,
the Bar-Kays,
Quadrant,
Sixth Finger,
Subhumans,
U.S. Maple,
Susan Cadogan,
Rufus Thomas,
Radio Birdman,
Rakim,
the Human League,
ABC,
The Young Rascals,
T.S.O.L.,
Newcleus,
PIL,
Scrapy,
Mo-Dettes,
Hardrive,
B.T. Express,
The Electric Prunes,
Con Funk Shun,
Negative Approach,
Unwound,
The Detroit Cobras,
Alice Coltrane,
Gil Scott Heron,
Chris & Cosey,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Godley & Creme,
Scott Walker,
The Neon Judgement,
Slick Rick,
Marvin Gaye,
Amon Düül II,
Franke,
Lungfish,
Deakin,
Jeru the Damaja,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
The Cowsills,
Little Man,
Ludus,
Eli Mardock,
Byron Stingily,
Carl Craig,
Anakelly,
Fugazi,
Flash Fearless,
John Lydon,
The Smiths,
Stiv Bators,
a-ha, a-ha, a-ha, a-ha.
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.