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 Australia and from Toronto.
But I was there.
I was there in 1980.
I was there at the first Cybotron show in Detroit.
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 1960 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Toronto and Stockholm.
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 808 sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 John Cale to the electroclash kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Sarah Menescal. All the underground hits.
All Bobby Hutcherson tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Anakelly record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock 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 theremin and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Niagra 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?
Schoolly D,
The Kinks,
Thee Headcoats,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Visage,
Jeff Mills,
The Saints,
Chris Corsano,
Hot Snakes,
Adolescents,
Henry Cow,
Scrapy,
Kurtis Blow,
Alphaville,
ABBA,
The Residents,
The Real Kids,
Black Pus,
The Selecter,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
The Techniques,
Colin Newman,
These Immortal Souls,
Marvin Gaye,
Wings,
The Blackbyrds,
Reuben Wilson,
David Bowie,
Unrelated Segments,
the Fania All-Stars,
Whodini,
Saccharine Trust,
Dorothy Ashby,
The Birthday Party,
Fat Boys,
the Association,
Q65,
Lucky Dragons,
Barclay James Harvest,
Kaleidoscope,
10cc,
Black Flag,
LL Cool J,
Brick,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Juan Atkins,
DJ Sneak,
Skriet,
Excepter,
Gong,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Fear,
The New Christs,
Davy DMX,
The Star Department,
Eurythmics,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Carl Craig,
Quando Quango,
Dave Gahan,
Harpers Bizarre,
Robert Wyatt,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Slick Rick, Slick Rick, Slick Rick, Slick Rick.
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.