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 South Sudan and from Toronto.
But I was there.
I was there in 1980.
I was there at the first Cybotron show in Detroit.
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 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Johannesburg and Calgary.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Shanghai 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 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 disco kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Skatalites. All the underground hits.
All Johnny Osbourne tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Marc Almond record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap 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 an organ and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Bush Tetras record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Youth Brigade,
Spandau Ballet,
Pagans,
Albert Ayler,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
The Black Dice,
Mark Hollis,
June of 44,
the Human League,
PIL,
Peter and Kerry,
Shoche,
Cecil Taylor,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Todd Rundgren,
Toni Rubio,
Second Layer,
the Germs,
Tommy Roe,
Drive Like Jehu,
Sexual Harrassment,
Jandek,
Pere Ubu,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
X-Ray Spex,
Skarface,
Cymande,
Mo-Dettes,
Bad Manners,
Roxette,
Quantec,
Con Funk Shun,
Man Parrish,
the Fania All-Stars,
Glambeats Corp.,
Chris Corsano,
China Crisis,
Liliput,
The Mojo Men,
Dorothy Ashby,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Gregory Isaacs,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Jeru the Damaja,
The Last Poets,
The Mummies,
Amon Düül,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Easy Going,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
The Residents,
Model 500,
Nick Fraelich,
Symarip,
Clear Light,
Ken Boothe,
Skriet,
Archie Shepp,
The Saints,
Fela Kuti,
Rekid,
Barrington Levy,
Vainqueur, Vainqueur, Vainqueur, Vainqueur.
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.