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 Montenegro 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 1965 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in London and Delhi.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Sao Paulo 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 marimba sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Jandek to the dance kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Altered Images. All the underground hits.
All Lyres tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Trojans record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Erasure record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Severed Heads,
The Raincoats,
The Trojans,
Khruangbin,
Dead Boys,
Whodini,
Vladislav Delay,
The Modern Lovers,
The Martian,
Robert Hood,
The Kinks,
Von Mondo,
Wolf Eyes,
Lou Christie,
Curtis Mayfield,
Throbbing Gristle,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
The Monochrome Set,
Henry Cow,
Zero Boys,
EPMD,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Radio Birdman,
Rotary Connection,
Inner City,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Lebanon Hanover,
The Vogues,
Public Image Ltd.,
Fela Kuti,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
T. Rex,
Rapeman,
Nation of Ulysses,
The Blackbyrds,
The Mojo Men,
Fatback Band,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
The Smoke,
Moby Grape,
Bizarre Inc.,
Rhythm & Sound,
Graham Central Station,
Average White Band,
Fugazi,
Jimmy McGriff,
Tropical Tobacco,
Sällskapet,
The Slackers,
Saccharine Trust,
Scrapy,
UT,
Das Ding,
Scratch Acid,
Erykah Badu,
The Wake,
Can,
Delon & Dalcan,
Television,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Mark Hollis,
Joey Negro,
Subhumans,
Ultravox, Ultravox, Ultravox, Ultravox.
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.