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 Marshall Islands and from Accra.
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 1965 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Woodstock and Tokyo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Bologna 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 1977 at the first Mistral practice in a loft in Amsterdam.
I was working on the güiro sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Mars to the grunge 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 Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five. All the underground hits.
All Bizarre Inc. tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Black Pus 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a mellotron and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Bizarre Inc. record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Mary Jane Girls,
Arab on Radar,
Aloha Tigers,
OOIOO,
The Searchers,
Andrew Hill,
Leonard Cohen,
Whodini,
Ossler,
Outsiders,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Wally Richardson,
Tim Buckley,
Peter and Kerry,
Ronnie Foster,
Excepter,
The J.B.'s,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
DJ Sneak,
Model 500,
Lebanon Hanover,
Blake Baxter,
Wings,
The Birthday Party,
Crime,
Harmonia,
Eurythmics,
Idris Muhammad,
Procol Harum,
Rufus Thomas,
Bobby Byrd,
Sex Pistols,
John Holt,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Silicon Teens,
Oblivians,
Theoretical Girls,
the Germs,
FM Einheit,
Morten Harket,
Warsaw,
Eli Mardock,
Television,
Reagan Youth,
Fluxion,
The Last Poets,
Fifty Foot Hose,
The Star Department,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Steve Hackett,
Roxy Music,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
The Sonics,
Zero Boys,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Fela Kuti,
Yusef Lateef,
The Blackbyrds,
Rites of Spring,
The Smiths, The Smiths, The Smiths, The Smiths.
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.