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 Monaco and from Johannesburg.
But I was there.
I was there in 1968.
I was there at the first Can show in Cologne.
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 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Sao Paulo and Calgary.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Salvador 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 marimba sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Wire to the rock 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 Sound. All the underground hits.
All Rahsaan Roland Kirk tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Fat Boys record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a mellotron and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Tom Boy,
X-Ray Spex,
Slick Rick,
Neil Young,
The Tremeloes,
Ultra Naté,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Wire,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Wally Richardson,
Warsaw,
Wings,
Man Parrish,
Blake Baxter,
Michelle Simonal,
Eve St. Jones,
the Sonics,
The Sonics,
Judy Mowatt,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
David Axelrod,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Black Pus,
The Leaves,
Ornette Coleman,
Harmonia,
Main Source,
Black Sheep,
Jacques Brel,
Eden Ahbez,
Pierre Henry,
Crash Course in Science,
Schoolly D,
The Monks,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Sight & Sound,
The Angels of Light,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Can,
The Star Department,
Mr. Review,
The Techniques,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
David Bowie,
Talk Talk,
La Düsseldorf,
Silicon Teens,
Lakeside,
Blossom Toes,
10cc,
Absolute Body Control,
Supertramp,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Marvin Gaye,
The Golliwogs,
OOIOO,
Los Fastidios,
Yaz,
Quando Quango,
Warren Ellis, Warren Ellis, Warren Ellis, Warren Ellis.
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.