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 El Salvador and from Jakarta.
But I was there.
I was there in 1968.
I was there at the first Can show in Cologne.
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 1966 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Johannesburg and Stockholm.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lille 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 sitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Rotary Connection to the jazz 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 Scott Walker. All the underground hits.
All Zero Boys tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Cabaret Voltaire record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Misunderstood record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ 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,
Silicon Teens,
Wasted Youth,
Kerrie Biddell,
Marine Girls,
8 Eyed Spy,
Drive Like Jehu,
Hasil Adkins,
Todd Terry,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Jerry's Kids,
Stockholm Monsters,
Inner City,
The Modern Lovers,
Dual Sessions,
Minny Pops,
Pantaleimon,
Los Fastidios,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
The Star Department,
Delta 5,
Tears for Fears,
X-Ray Spex,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Thompson Twins,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
The Sound,
Young Marble Giants,
Au Pairs,
Unwound,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Nico,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Q and Not U,
MDC,
Brass Construction,
Radiohead,
Johnny Clarke,
Spoonie Gee,
The Busters,
Fela Kuti,
Bush Tetras,
Ken Boothe,
Man Parrish,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Easy Going,
Gang Gang Dance,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Maleditus Sound,
Pylon,
The Cramps,
Massinfluence,
The Buckinghams,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Jimmy McGriff,
Ash Ra Tempel,
FM Einheit,
Moss Icon,
Crooked Eye,
Agent Orange,
Alison Limerick, Alison Limerick, Alison Limerick, Alison Limerick.
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.