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 Finland and from Manchester.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Selda show in Istanbul.
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 1966 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Madrid and Calgary.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Edmonton 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 sitar 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 David Axelrod to the techno kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Associates. All the underground hits.
All Animal Collective tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Lee Hazlewood 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Cowsills record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Pylon,
Roxette,
Monolake,
The Gories,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Organ,
Gil Scott Heron,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Flipper,
Cecil Taylor,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Intrusion,
the Germs,
Blancmange,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Zero Boys,
Kas Product,
Soft Cell,
The Vogues,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Lakeside,
Drexciya,
The Victims,
Fugazi,
Marcia Griffiths,
Rufus Thomas,
Kevin Saunderson,
Masters at Work,
Lungfish,
Sight & Sound,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
The Neon Judgement,
Kayak,
Flamin' Groovies,
the Soft Cell,
The Barracudas,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Derrick May,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
The Offenders,
Porter Ricks,
Gregory Isaacs,
Eurythmics,
James Chance & The Contortions,
48th St. Collective,
Aural Exciters,
Stetsasonic,
Quantec,
Eric Copeland,
Tomorrow,
Sun City Girls,
Boz Scaggs,
Brick,
Sister Nancy,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Pulsallama,
Chris Corsano,
The Grass Roots,
Shuggie Otis,
Swell Maps, Swell Maps, Swell Maps, Swell Maps.
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.