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 Philippines and from Lagos.
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 1967 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Paris and Manila.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Taipei 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 1980 at the first Cybotron practice in a loft in Detroit.
I was working on the synthesizer sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Faust to the punk 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 Mojo Men. All the underground hits.
All Minutemen tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a chamberlin and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Royal Trux record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Letta Mbulu,
The Dave Clark Five,
Kayak,
Harpers Bizarre,
The Cowsills,
Harmonia,
Lindisfarne,
Essential Logic,
The Walker Brothers,
Radiopuhelimet,
Talk Talk,
Magma,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Henry Cow,
Nation of Ulysses,
Soft Machine,
Metal Thangz,
Trumans Water,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Grey Daturas,
Mantronix,
Dark Day,
The Human League,
Hardrive,
Ludus,
Scott Walker,
Janne Schatter,
Wire,
Sun Ra,
Minutemen,
Motorama,
Surgeon,
Kerrie Biddell,
Funkadelic,
Donny Hathaway,
Von Mondo,
Wasted Youth,
The Toasters,
Das Ding,
Robert Wyatt,
The Misunderstood,
Graham Central Station,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Man Parrish,
Cecil Taylor,
Johnny Osbourne,
Los Fastidios,
Slick Rick,
Pussy Galore,
The Gap Band,
Negative Approach,
Gabor Szabo,
the Normal,
Radio Birdman,
Iggy Pop,
The Trojans,
Andrew Hill,
Johnny Clarke,
Lou Christie,
Brass Construction, Brass Construction, Brass Construction, Brass Construction.
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.