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 Panama and from Tokyo.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Josef K show in Edinburgh.
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 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Stockholm and Glasgow.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Johannesburg 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 güiro sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 The Fuzztones 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 The Slits. All the underground hits.
All Jeff Lynne tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Thee Headcoats record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash 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 harpsichord and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Cramps record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Visage,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Bobbi Humphrey,
The Star Department,
Whodini,
Trumans Water,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Underground Resistance,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Newcleus,
The Remains,
Grandmaster Flash,
Desert Stars,
Gichy Dan,
Accadde A,
Black Moon,
Max Romeo,
Babytalk,
Slick Rick,
Ohio Players,
Vladislav Delay,
Japan,
Tears for Fears,
Charles Mingus,
Black Bananas,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Hasil Adkins,
The Young Rascals,
Livin' Joy,
Skaos,
Girls At Our Best!,
Pere Ubu,
Theoretical Girls,
The Walker Brothers,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Monks,
The Real Kids,
Organ,
Rites of Spring,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
The Mummies,
The Fuzztones,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Tom Boy,
Neu!,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Brick,
L. Decosne,
Wolf Eyes,
The Angels of Light,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Matthew Halsall,
The Birthday Party,
Swell Maps,
Delta 5,
Camouflage,
EPMD,
Urselle,
Sugar Minott,
Kayak,
Ornette Coleman,
Dead Boys, Dead Boys, Dead Boys, Dead Boys.
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.