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 Turkmenistan and from Jakarta.
But I was there.
I was there in 1968.
I was there at the first Can show in Cologne.
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 1961 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Spokane and Copenhagen.
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 organ sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Banda Bassotti to the grime kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 JFA. All the underground hits.
All Mary Jane Girls tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Guru Guru record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco 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 chamberlin and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a JFA record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Moleskins,
Zapp,
Tim Buckley,
Cheater Slicks,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
John Foxx,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Qualms,
The Music Machine,
Chris Corsano,
Desert Stars,
Terrestrial Tones,
Cecil Taylor,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Eyeless In Gaza,
DNA,
The Fall,
Roxette,
Kurtis Blow,
Shuggie Otis,
Brothers Johnson,
Funky Four + One,
The Evens,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
E-Dancer,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Bronski Beat,
Sandy B,
Erykah Badu,
Livin' Joy,
Connie Case,
Hasil Adkins,
Blancmange,
Los Fastidios,
Jandek,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Kool Moe Dee,
Moebius,
Rekid,
Jeff Mills,
Big Daddy Kane,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Boredoms,
Young Marble Giants,
Stetsasonic,
Wasted Youth,
Fugazi,
Cybotron,
Slick Rick,
Drexciya,
Hashim,
Scratch Acid,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Outsiders,
T.S.O.L.,
Dual Sessions,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Black Pus, Black Pus, Black Pus, Black Pus.
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.