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 Somalia and from Edmonton.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Mistral show in Amsterdam.
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 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Taipei and Mexico City.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Spokane 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 theremin 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 Curtis Mayfield to the punk 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 Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane. All the underground hits.
All Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Teenage Jesus and the Jerks record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a 808 and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a David Axelrod record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Barclay James Harvest,
John Lydon,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Junior Murvin,
Cluster,
Blancmange,
Stiv Bators,
Circle Jerks,
8 Eyed Spy,
The United States of America,
Arcadia,
Rotary Connection,
Piero Umiliani,
This Heat,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Dorothy Ashby,
Kevin Saunderson,
JFA,
Roxette,
Mad Mike,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Camron Feat. Jay Z And Juelz,
Terrestrial Tones,
Scientists,
Black Pus,
Minnie Riperton,
Camberwell Now,
Average White Band,
David Bowie,
Vladislav Delay,
The Buckinghams,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Don Cherry,
Babytalk,
Deadbeat,
Throbbing Gristle,
MDC,
Tropical Tobacco,
Gil Scott Heron,
Radiopuhelimet,
The Modern Lovers,
Grandmaster Flash,
Pharoah Sanders,
Pagans,
Drive Like Jehu,
Johnny Clarke,
Yaz,
Marc Almond,
Sound Behaviour,
Quantec,
Bush Tetras,
The Dirtbombs,
Johnny Osbourne,
The Mummies,
Idris Muhammad,
the Association,
Pere Ubu,
The Gories,
Donny Hathaway, Donny Hathaway, Donny Hathaway, Donny Hathaway.
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.