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 Congo and from London.
But I was there.
I was there in 1984.
I was there at the first Arcadia show in London.
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 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Taipei and Spokane.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 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 Fort Wilson Riot to the punk kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Pantytec. All the underground hits.
All Slave tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Bootsy's Rubber Band record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Barbara Tucker,
Aswad,
The Music Machine,
Harry Pussy,
These Immortal Souls,
Johnny Osbourne,
Chris & Cosey,
D'Angelo,
Oneida,
Crime,
Gastr Del Sol,
Monks,
Pylon,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Eli Mardock,
DNA,
Flash Fearless,
Scratch Acid,
Crispian St. Peters,
The Beau Brummels,
The Standells,
JFA,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Juan Atkins,
Traffic Nightmare,
Cluster,
Alton Ellis,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
James White and The Blacks,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
Alphaville,
The Moleskins,
Arcadia,
Bill Wells,
Marcia Griffiths,
Severed Heads,
Electric Prunes,
Matthew Halsall,
The Associates,
Yaz,
Stereo Dub,
Lightning Bolt,
The Fugs,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Mr. Review,
Au Pairs,
Sun Ra,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Sound Behaviour,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
John Holt,
Jandek,
Essential Logic,
Aaron Thompson,
Fugazi,
Warsaw,
John Cale,
The J.B.'s,
The Young Rascals,
The Raincoats,
Radiohead, Radiohead, Radiohead, Radiohead.
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.