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 Trinidad & Tobago and from Lille.
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 1967 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in London and Woodstock.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Mumbai 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 snare 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 X-102 to the punk kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Throbbing Gristle. All the underground hits.
All Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Chrome 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a 808 and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Silicon Teens record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Flash Fearless,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Peter and Kerry,
Essential Logic,
PIL,
Tres Demented,
Howard Jones,
Scratch Acid,
Hasil Adkins,
Marcia Griffiths,
Newcleus,
Jeff Mills,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Pantytec,
The Fire Engines,
The Moody Blues,
Girls At Our Best!,
David Axelrod,
Radiopuhelimet,
D'Angelo,
The Litter,
Dark Day,
The Dirtbombs,
Bootsy Collins,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Organ,
Sixth Finger,
Bluetip,
Charles Mingus,
Pylon,
Dawn Penn,
T.S.O.L.,
New Age Steppers,
Alphaville,
Lindisfarne,
Circle Jerks,
DJ Style,
Gastr Del Sol,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
T. Rex,
Clear Light,
The Cowsills,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
The Wake,
These Immortal Souls,
Quadrant,
EPMD,
Quando Quango,
Intrusion,
Suburban Knight,
Wally Richardson,
Minny Pops,
Guru Guru,
John Cale,
Smog,
DNA,
Khruangbin,
Avey Tare,
The Buckinghams,
Jeru the Damaja,
Minutemen,
Blossom Toes,
Tropical Tobacco, Tropical Tobacco, Tropical Tobacco, Tropical Tobacco.
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.