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 Congo and from Philadelphia.
But I was there.
I was there in 1975.
I was there at the first Throbbing Gristle show in London.
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 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Hong Kong and Houston.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Columbus 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 organ 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 Brick to the rap kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 The Slackers. All the underground hits.
All Moebius tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Deadbeat record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Donald Byrd record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Max Romeo,
Subhumans,
Dead Boys,
Soulsonic Force,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Gichy Dan,
John Lydon,
Rapeman,
Ken Boothe,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Blossom Toes,
The Star Department,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
The Last Poets,
Bill Near,
Nation of Ulysses,
Lakeside,
A Certain Ratio,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Youth Brigade,
The Shadows of Knight,
Lalann,
The Buckinghams,
Bobby Sherman,
The Move,
Stereo Dub,
Barry Ungar,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Intrusion,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
The Monochrome Set,
Dennis Brown,
David Axelrod,
The J.B.'s,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Althea and Donna,
Wasted Youth,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Howard Jones,
Echospace,
Colin Newman,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Saccharine Trust,
The Mummies,
New Order,
Altered Images,
Loose Ends,
Scion,
Cybotron,
Ronnie Foster,
Negative Approach,
Neil Young,
The Leaves,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Graham Central Station,
Brick,
John Holt,
The New Christs,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Shoche,
Sonic Youth,
Cluster, Cluster, Cluster, Cluster.
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.