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 Lithuania and from Delhi.
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 1968 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tehran and Manila.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Glasgow 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 Robert Palmer 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 Pole to the electroclash kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Hoover. All the underground hits.
All Crooked Eye tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Bang on a Can All-Stars record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a chamberlin and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a MC5 record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar 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 Techniques,
JFA,
X-Ray Spex,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Talk Talk,
the Human League,
The Detroit Cobras,
Sparks,
Von Mondo,
Slave,
Gang Starr,
Darondo,
Sarah Menescal,
Model 500,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Delta 5,
Supertramp,
The Slits,
Q and Not U,
Gil Scott Heron,
Mo-Dettes,
Guru Guru,
Radio Birdman,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Jesper Dahlback,
The Modern Lovers,
Jawbox,
Spoonie Gee,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
The Black Dice,
Zapp,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Max Romeo,
Monks,
Organ,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
David McCallum,
Ronnie Foster,
Pussy Galore,
Mantronix,
Ultimate Spinach,
Lungfish,
Jeru the Damaja,
Spandau Ballet,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Byron Stingily,
Scratch Acid,
Althea and Donna,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Tim Buckley,
Rakim,
Suicide,
The Moleskins,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Camouflage,
Patti Smith,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Fat Boys,
Gichy Dan, Gichy Dan, Gichy Dan, Gichy Dan.
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.