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 Antigua and from Shanghai.
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 1963 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tehran and Toronto.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manchester 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 organ 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 The American Breed to the funk 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 the Soft Cell. All the underground hits.
All Kings Of Tomorrow tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Black Sheep record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno 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 oboe and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Alarm Clocks record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Dorothy Ashby,
Hot Snakes,
Hashim,
Blancmange,
Monks,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Jandek,
Barry Ungar,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Guru Guru,
The Mummies,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Thompson Twins,
Lou Reed,
Quantec,
The Index,
Bauhaus,
The Knickerbockers,
Fugazi,
Judy Mowatt,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
The Kinks,
Robert Hood,
Avey Tare,
Jerry Gold Smith,
The Skatalites,
Jacques Brel,
Warsaw,
Oneida,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Inner City,
the Bar-Kays,
Mary Jane Girls,
Patti Smith,
Q and Not U,
Youth Brigade,
Tomorrow,
Eve St. Jones,
The Grass Roots,
Pharoah Sanders,
Masters at Work,
The United States of America,
Intrusion,
Swans,
Roy Ayers,
The Toasters,
Accadde A,
The Vogues,
In Retrospect,
Derrick Morgan,
Marine Girls,
X-101,
Chris & Cosey,
Desert Stars,
These Immortal Souls,
The Saints,
Jerry's Kids,
The Cowsills,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Rufus Thomas,
Pet Shop Boys,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Brass Construction, Brass Construction, Brass Construction, Brass Construction.
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.