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 Kyrgyzstan and from Milan.
But I was there.
I was there in 1975.
I was there at the first Ubu show in Cleveland.
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 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Cairo and Manchester.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Toronto 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 organ sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Altered Images to the techno kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Men They Couldn't Hang. All the underground hits.
All Johnny Clarke tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Amon Düül 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Althea and Donna record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Jesper Dahlback,
Oblivians,
Second Layer,
Arab on Radar,
James White and The Blacks,
Public Image Ltd.,
Gastr Del Sol,
Terrestrial Tones,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Matthew Halsall,
Aloha Tigers,
Lower 48,
Bauhaus,
Youth Brigade,
Black Flag,
Black Bananas,
Banda Bassotti,
The Cowsills,
Cymande,
Throbbing Gristle,
Lyres,
Danielle Patucci,
Camouflage,
Hashim,
Jeff Lynne,
The New Christs,
Leonard Cohen,
The Electric Prunes,
Tommy Roe,
Cluster,
Joy Division,
Prince Buster,
Country Teasers,
Graham Central Station,
The Barracudas,
The Monks,
Nas,
Alphaville,
Guru Guru,
Cybotron,
Brothers Johnson,
Anthony Braxton,
Amazonics,
the Slits,
Q and Not U,
Rekid,
DJ Sneak,
Marine Girls,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Wally Richardson,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Boredoms,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Gang Gang Dance,
Soul II Soul,
Hardrive,
Flipper,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Babytalk,
Max Romeo,
The Cramps, The Cramps, The Cramps, The Cramps.
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.