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 Belize and from Manchester.
But I was there.
I was there in 1967.
I was there at the first Rodriguez show in Detroit.
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 1960 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Portland and Jakarta.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Winnipeg 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 oboe 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 The Five Americans to the techno kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Iggy Pop. All the underground hits.
All Curtis Mayfield tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Dual Sessions record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash 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 chamberlin and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Laurel Aitken record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Gabor Szabo,
Sexual Harrassment,
Leonard Cohen,
Tropical Tobacco,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Pagans,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Throbbing Gristle,
Joy Division,
Dual Sessions,
Soft Cell,
The Flesh Eaters,
New York Dolls,
kango's stein massive,
Sugar Minott,
The Birthday Party,
Theoretical Girls,
Vladislav Delay,
Sight & Sound,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
John Holt,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Young Marble Giants,
Flash Fearless,
The Motions,
Au Pairs,
The Raincoats,
The Index,
Shoche,
MC5,
The Techniques,
Big Daddy Kane,
David Axelrod,
Boogie Down Productions,
Accadde A,
The Electric Prunes,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
The Blues Magoos,
Glambeats Corp.,
June Days,
The Cure,
Ronan,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Youth Brigade,
The Leaves,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Essential Logic,
The Smoke,
Jimmy McGriff,
The American Breed,
Neu!,
KRS-One,
The Move,
Pharoah Sanders,
a-ha,
Section 25,
Monolake,
Yellowson,
Kenny Larkin,
The Standells,
Ludus,
New Order,
Ossler, Ossler, Ossler, Ossler.
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.