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 Ecuador and from Milan.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Big Star show in Memphis.
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 1961 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Delhi and Cairo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Portland 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 Holger Czukay 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 Symarip 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 Cabaret Voltaire. All the underground hits.
All Nico tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Cramps record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash 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 rhodes and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Mandrill record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Smiths,
Rod Modell,
The Wake,
Alice Coltrane,
Das Ding,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Eve St. Jones,
June of 44,
Nik Kershaw,
The Fire Engines,
Arab on Radar,
The Buckinghams,
The Young Rascals,
Unwound,
Bluetip,
Michelle Simonal,
Mad Mike,
OOIOO,
8 Eyed Spy,
MC5,
Sight & Sound,
Dark Day,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Patti Smith,
The Sonics,
Clear Light,
Von Mondo,
Man Eating Sloth,
Gichy Dan,
The American Breed,
Nirvana,
Todd Terry,
Hot Snakes,
the Soft Cell,
Jacques Brel,
Flipper,
Soul II Soul,
Camouflage,
Circle Jerks,
The Mighty Diamonds,
the Sonics,
Desert Stars,
Swell Maps,
Mission of Burma,
Crooked Eye,
Easy Going,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Lou Christie,
Robert Hood,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Babytalk,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Average White Band,
Gerry Rafferty,
Todd Rundgren,
Junior Murvin,
Ponytail,
Graham Central Station,
Inner City,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Black Bananas,
Marc Almond,
Tommy Roe, Tommy Roe, Tommy Roe, Tommy Roe.
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.