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 Costa Rica and from Lagos.
But I was there.
I was there in 1975.
I was there at the first Ubu show in Cleveland.
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 1968 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lyon and Philadelphia.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Johannesburg 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 rhodes sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Cabaret Voltaire to the techno kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Joensuu 1685. All the underground hits.
All Visage tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Second Layer record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge 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 snare and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Mission of Burma,
La Düsseldorf,
Negative Approach,
Marshall Jefferson,
Agent Orange,
Sandy B,
Sister Nancy,
the Bar-Kays,
Marvin Gaye,
Vainqueur,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Heaven 17,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Skriet,
Intrusion,
Shoche,
Godley & Creme,
Gerry Rafferty,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
the Association,
Ultra Naté,
Aaron Thompson,
The Zeros,
Todd Terry,
The Pop Group,
The Knickerbockers,
Tubeway Army,
Deakin,
Magma,
Underground Resistance,
Ice-T,
The New Christs,
Suicide,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Gichy Dan,
Bill Near,
Adolescents,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Barbara Tucker,
Lucky Dragons,
Bobby Womack,
Jeru the Damaja,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Peter & Gordon,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Electric Prunes,
Bill Wells,
Panda Bear,
Mark Hollis,
Brothers Johnson,
The Gap Band,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Chris & Cosey,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Barrington Levy,
Pylon,
MC5,
Joensuu 1685,
These Immortal Souls,
Beasts of Bourbon,
The Beau Brummels, The Beau Brummels, The Beau Brummels, The Beau Brummels.
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.