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 Malawi and from Jakarta.
But I was there.
I was there in 1987.
I was there at the first Nirvana show in Seattle.
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 1964 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Columbus and Hong Kong.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manila 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 spring reverb sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Dorothy Ashby to the punk kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Zero Boys. All the underground hits.
All Johnny Clarke tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every the Soft Cell 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 '90s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a James Chance & The Contortions record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb 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 Wake,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
The Detroit Cobras,
Camron Feat. Jay Z And Juelz,
The Zeros,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Juan Atkins,
The Durutti Column,
B.T. Express,
K-Klass,
Rosa Yemen,
Trumans Water,
Deepchord,
Kurtis Blow,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Jeru the Damaja,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Royal Trux,
Stetsasonic,
New Age Steppers,
The Busters,
John Foxx,
Kas Product,
Kaleidoscope,
Das Ding,
Little Man,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
June Days,
Black Flag,
Lungfish,
E-Dancer,
The Angels of Light,
Electric Prunes,
T. Rex,
The Vogues,
Scan 7,
Suburban Knight,
Harry Pussy,
Darondo,
Grandmaster Flash,
Pantytec,
the Swans,
Pierre Henry,
Charles Mingus,
Mo-Dettes,
Jimmy McGriff,
The Velvet Underground,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Big Daddy Kane,
Marmalade,
Sandy B,
Icehouse,
Babytalk,
Marshall Jefferson,
Scion,
Mars,
The Standells,
Fugazi,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
The Offenders, The Offenders, The Offenders, The Offenders.
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.