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 Micronesia and from Lyon.
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 1961 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Johannesburg and Mexico City.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Seoul 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 1987 at the first Nirvana practice in a loft in Seattle.
I was working on the arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 China Crisis to the electroclash kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Morten Harket. All the underground hits.
All Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Amon Düül II 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Aaron Thompson record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Gabor Szabo,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Essential Logic,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
K-Klass,
New York Dolls,
Groovy Waters,
Brass Construction,
Davy DMX,
Minor Threat,
Faust,
Darondo,
MC5,
Bad Manners,
Anakelly,
The Motions,
Monks,
Dorothy Ashby,
Radiopuhelimet,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Bill Wells,
Robert Wyatt,
Barrington Levy,
Big Daddy Kane,
Johnny Osbourne,
Zapp,
Urselle,
Flash Fearless,
Public Enemy,
Yaz,
UT,
The Moleskins,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
The Walker Brothers,
FM Einheit,
The Sound,
Rod Modell,
Ten City,
Funky Four + One,
Reagan Youth,
Camberwell Now,
Patti Smith,
Marc Almond,
Stockholm Monsters,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Johnny Clarke,
Dawn Penn,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Loose Ends,
Y Pants,
Pharoah Sanders,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
The Index,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Erasure,
The Beau Brummels,
Matthew Halsall,
Deakin,
Jawbox,
Pantaleimon, Pantaleimon, Pantaleimon, Pantaleimon.
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.