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 Libya and from Mexico City.
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 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manchester and Stockholm.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Winnipeg 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 spring reverb sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Arcadia to the rock kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Swans. All the underground hits.
All Black Flag tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Beau Brummels 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a chamberlin and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Crash Course in Science record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Second Layer,
Rosa Yemen,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Fugazi,
Interpol,
Fad Gadget,
The Last Poets,
Kayak,
Heaven 17,
Vainqueur,
Main Source,
Soft Cell,
Ultimate Spinach,
Altered Images,
Rufus Thomas,
Jacob Miller,
Johnny Osbourne,
Cymande,
Ituana,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Monks,
The Buckinghams,
Iggy Pop,
Echospace,
Tomorrow,
Freddie Wadling,
Royal Trux,
David Axelrod,
X-102,
John Coltrane,
Eric B and Rakim,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Bobby Byrd,
Agitation Free,
Easy Going,
Chrome,
Minor Threat,
Max Romeo,
Agent Orange,
Goldenarms,
Pet Shop Boys,
Clear Light,
Carl Craig,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Joey Negro,
The Monochrome Set,
B.T. Express,
Charles Mingus,
Bluetip,
Urselle,
Intrusion,
The Selecter,
Khruangbin,
Throbbing Gristle,
F. McDonald,
The Shadows of Knight,
The New Christs,
Thee Headcoats,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Scrapy,
Boredoms, Boredoms, Boredoms, Boredoms.
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.