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 India and from Spokane.
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 1963 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Milan and Shanghai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Beijing 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 arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Gang Gang Dance to the grime kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Boz Scaggs. All the underground hits.
All Tommy Roe tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Detroit Cobras 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Circle Jerks record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a spring reverb.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Nick Fraelich,
Bobby Sherman,
Icehouse,
Charles Mingus,
Dual Sessions,
the Soft Cell,
Angry Samoans,
The Wake,
R.M.O.,
June of 44,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Grey Daturas,
Parry Music,
The Gories,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Buzzcocks,
Sex Pistols,
Rotary Connection,
JFA,
Mad Mike,
Simply Red,
Eric Dolphy,
Blancmange,
Public Enemy,
Dorothy Ashby,
The Last Poets,
the Slits,
Andrew Hill,
Liliput,
Barclay James Harvest,
Glenn Branca,
The Beau Brummels,
Bobbi Humphrey,
CMW,
Bobby Byrd,
Throbbing Gristle,
David Bowie,
Robert Hood,
Shoche,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Stockholm Monsters,
Blossom Toes,
Sam Rivers,
The Dead C,
The Litter,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
UT,
Kurtis Blow,
Alphaville,
Bluetip,
Theoretical Girls,
The Invisible,
Monolake,
Slick Rick,
Underground Resistance,
Harmonia,
Amon Düül II,
Marvin Gaye,
Reuben Wilson,
Tom Boy,
Todd Terry,
The Trojans, The Trojans, The Trojans, The Trojans.
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.