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 Ireland and from Copenhagen.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Zapp show in Hamilton.
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 1967 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Milan and Delhi.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school New York 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 808 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 Second Layer to the grime kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Moby Grape. All the underground hits.
All It's A Beautiful Day tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Men They Couldn't Hang record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Marmalade record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Panda Bear,
Ultravox,
B.T. Express,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
June of 44,
The Knickerbockers,
The Wake,
Chris & Cosey,
Anakelly,
The Golliwogs,
Colin Newman,
The United States of America,
Eurythmics,
Archie Shepp,
Sister Nancy,
Cabaret Voltaire,
MDC,
Brand Nubian,
Ralphi Rosario,
Index,
Audionom,
Blake Baxter,
Isaac Hayes,
48th St. Collective,
Q65,
Amon Düül II,
Minor Threat,
The Blackbyrds,
Country Joe & The Fish,
The Blues Magoos,
Ken Boothe,
The Gories,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
a-ha,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Sunsets and Hearts,
The Modern Lovers,
Yaz,
Blancmange,
Qualms,
The Durutti Column,
Faraquet,
Marine Girls,
Moss Icon,
Henry Cow,
Traffic Nightmare,
X-102,
Iggy Pop,
Brothers Johnson,
Rosa Yemen,
Underground Resistance,
The Walker Brothers,
Leonard Cohen,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Simply Red,
Sugar Minott,
The Toasters,
The Velvet Underground, The Velvet Underground, The Velvet Underground, The Velvet Underground.
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.