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 Mali and from Bologna.
But I was there.
I was there in 1967.
I was there at the first Rodriguez 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 1969 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in New York and Woodstock.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 Michael McDonald 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 The Wake to the grime kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band. All the underground hits.
All Harpers Bizarre tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Minutemen record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk 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 chamberlin and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Chocolate Watch Band record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Stockholm Monsters,
Rotary Connection,
Whodini,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Pierre Henry,
the Germs,
LL Cool J,
Harry Pussy,
Erasure,
Crooked Eye,
Agent Orange,
The American Breed,
Electric Prunes,
Donny Hathaway,
The Mummies,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Neu!,
the Slits,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
FM Einheit,
Pole,
The Cramps,
Darondo,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
The Walker Brothers,
the Sonics,
The Barracudas,
Simply Red,
The Associates,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Sex Pistols,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Michelle Simonal,
The J.B.'s,
Ponytail,
The Slackers,
Scratch Acid,
The Names,
The Seeds,
The Divine Comedy,
Swans,
the Swans,
Amon Düül II,
Sister Nancy,
Fat Boys,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
John Cale,
Throbbing Gristle,
Vladislav Delay,
Tears for Fears,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Rosa Yemen,
Donald Byrd,
Rapeman,
Ash Ra Tempel,
AZ,
Dave Gahan,
Sonic Youth,
Janne Schatter,
La Düsseldorf,
Animal Collective, Animal Collective, Animal Collective, Animal Collective.
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.