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 Namibia and from Stockholm.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Zapp show in Hamilton.
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 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Cairo and Portland.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Madrid 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 harpsichord sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Desert Stars to the rock kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Grandmaster Flash. All the underground hits.
All H. Thieme tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Leonard Cohen record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a mellotron and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Monolake 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?
China Crisis,
Dark Day,
Accadde A,
John Holt,
Public Image Ltd.,
The Moleskins,
Bauhaus,
Bush Tetras,
Quantec,
Gastr Del Sol,
Monolake,
Desert Stars,
Popol Vuh,
The Gladiators,
Ituana,
Bobbi Humphrey,
DJ Style,
X-101,
Sister Nancy,
The Walker Brothers,
Tubeway Army,
The Last Poets,
R.M.O.,
The Mojo Men,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Babytalk,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Howard Jones,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Interpol,
Essential Logic,
The Doobie Brothers,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Pharoah Sanders,
Crooked Eye,
Silicon Teens,
Godley & Creme,
Yusef Lateef,
Maleditus Sound,
Procol Harum,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Soul Sonic Force,
a-ha,
Scrapy,
Delta 5,
Roxy Music,
Derrick May,
Joey Negro,
The Mummies,
The Searchers,
Icehouse,
Bob Dylan,
The Leaves,
Reuben Wilson,
Gang Gang Dance,
Reagan Youth,
Skarface,
Lower 48, Lower 48, Lower 48, Lower 48.
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.